US Reasserts ownership of Contentious Ukraine Peace Blueprint as Geneva Talks Begin
The United States moved on Saturday to dispel swirling doubts over the origin of a contentious peace proposal for Ukraine, insisting the draft, criticized by some allies as being overly generous to Moscow, was prepared in Washington and not handed in by Russia, as earlier claims suggested. BBC reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the clarification shortly before landing in Geneva for a pivotal round of discussions with Ukrainian and European security officials. The meeting is expected to shape the next phase of negotiations on the still-unpublished 28-point plan, which President Donald Trump has urged Kyiv to accept “swiftly”, even as resistance grows among Ukraine’s allies. Tension rose after Senator Mike Rounds said he was told by Rubio that the draft was not US policy at all, describing it as resembling a Russian “wish list”. The remark triggered immediate push back from the State Department, which labelled the account “blatantly false”. Rubio later publicly aligned himself with the administration’s position, stressing that the proposal “was authored by the US”, albeit informed by submissions from both Russian and Ukrainian channels. In a brief note typed out on social media, he emphasized that Ukraine had provided input “previously and continuously”. The political choreography unfolded against a backdrop of widening concern across European capitals. Portions of the plan, which have leaked in recent days, indicate that Ukraine would be expected to withdraw from parts of eastern Donetsk still under its control, accept limits on the size of its armed forces, and live with frozen front lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The deal would also leave Russia in de facto control of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. At the G20 summit in Johannesburg, the leaders of Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Germany, Norway and two senior EU officials issued a rare joint warning that the document “would leave Ukraine vulnerable to attack” and required substantial re-working. Standing before reporters, French President Emmanuel Macron cautioned that the blueprint “cannot simply be an American proposal”, arguing that any settlement must secure the wider European neighborhood. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz struck a similarly sombre note, saying negotiators remained “quite a long way from a good outcome for everyone”. In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky who has described the pressure surrounding the plan as “one of the most difficult moments in our history” appointed his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, to lead Ukraine’s negotiating team. Zelensky said his representatives “know how to defend Ukraine’s national interests” and understand what must be done to prevent a future assault. Trump, who has made a Ukraine settlement the centerpiece of his foreign-policy agenda in his second term, recently insisted that Kyiv “will have to” approve a deal, though he allowed that the US-imposed deadline could be extended if talks in Geneva make progress. Rubio and Trump’s informal envoy Steve Witkoff are among those expected at today’s session, alongside senior officials from the UK, France and Germany.
| 2025-11-23 08:21:48