Amid ongoing efforts to establish peace between Ukraine and Russia, Donald Trump has sent a special envoy to meet with Vladimir Putin to finalize an agreement.
After a week of challenging discussions, Ukraine accepted a modified 19-point peace plan on Tuesday. However, it is believed that the terms do not fully align with the Kremlin’s expectations.
Earlier this year, Trump’s initial 28-point peace plan heavily favored Russia, requiring Ukraine to make significant concessions, including ceding territory, to achieve peace.
The original proposal also demanded that Ukraine abandon its NATO membership aspirations and reduce its military to 600,000 troops.
Critically, Trump’s initial plan recognized Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk as effectively Russian territories, even granting Putin control over parts of Donetsk not yet captured.
This arrangement demanded little from Russia, heavily skewing the proposal in its favor.
As a result, the proposed agreement was rejected and has since been revised with contributions from Kyiv, the US, and the European Union, to create a more balanced plan.
The newly agreed deal by Ukraine includes capping its military at 800,000 troops and keeps NATO membership as an option.
Amnesty for war crimes during the last three years of conflict and the requirement to hold an election within 100 days were also removed from the plan.
Despite Ukraine’s consent, Russia also needs to agree in order for the resolution to be meaningful.
Given that the new agreement does not primarily benefit Russia, skeptics have expressed doubts about Putin’s acceptance, with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov hinting at possible rejection.
On Tuesday, Lavrov mentioned that if the plan alters the ‘key understandings’ reached between Putin and Trump at the Alaska summit earlier this year, the ‘situation will be fundamentally different’.
In anticipation of resistance, Trump has sent special envoy Steve Witkoff, known for the Gaza peace deal, to converse with Putin in Moscow.
Trump announced on Truth Social, “The original 28-point peace plan, which was drafted by the United States, has been fine-tuned, with additional input from both sides, and there are only a few remaining points of disagreement.”
He added, “I look forward to hopefully meeting with president [Volodymyr] Zelensky and president Putin soon, but only when the deal to end this war is final.”
Witkoff is the second envoy sent recently, following US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll’s discussions with the Russian delegation over the weekend in the UAE.
After successfully securing a ceasefire in Gaza, Trump aimed for a similar outcome in Ukraine, even attempting to pressure Zelensky into accepting the deal.
Trump threatened to cut intelligence sharing and weapons supplies to Ukraine unless Zelensky agreed, a move criticized by European allies.
After some key adjustments, a new US-drafted peace proposal was presented to Ukraine last week, with a deadline set for Thursday to reach a consensus.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated, “Over the past week, the United States has made tremendous progress towards a peace deal by bringing both Ukraine and Russia to the table.”
She added, “There are a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that must be sorted out and will require further talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States.”