US President Donald Trump unveiled a new 28-point plan to end the Ukraine-Russia war and made it clear that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky does not have the option of continuing the war for long and will have to accept the plan which appears to be tilted towards Russia.
Trump has previously moved forward with his plan to end the Ukraine-Russia war without Zelensky’s consent. Trump said Friday he expected Ukraine’s president to respond by next Thursday on his government’s new plan to end the war.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “We believe that we have a way to establish peace.” He (Zelensky) will have to approve it.
Ukraine’s Zelensky government is facing challenges from the battlefield as well as corruption. Russia is continuously bombing its energy infrastructure, which is expected to once again be a difficult winter season for Ukrainians. Zelensky also believes that “Ukraine is now perhaps facing the most difficult period in its history.”
Zelensky has not spoken to Trump since he made his plan public. However, the Ukrainian President has said that he hopes to talk to the US President in the coming days.
In the new plan, Trump is pressurizing Ukraine to agree to give its land to Russia, drastically reduce the size of the army, and Europe to assure that it will never include Ukraine in the NATO military alliance.
“Now Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult period,” Zelensky said in a video address on Friday. “He (must) either risk losing face, or risk losing an important partner.” At the heart of Trump’s plan is a demand for Ukraine to give up all of its eastern Donbass region, with much of that region still under Ukrainian control.