(AFP) – Washington insisted Saturday that its Ukraine proposal is indeed official US policy, denying claims by a group of senators that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told them the document under discussion is just a Russian “wish list.” The dispute over the 28-point plan — which cedes Ukrainian territory long sought by Moscow — threw an extraordinary element of confusion into efforts to negotiate an end to the war. US President Donald Trump has pushed the plan, pressuring the Ukrainians to accept it within days. Negotiators will meet in Switzerland on Sunday.
However, after a storm of criticism that the proposal is almost entirely favorable to Moscow, several US senators spoke out, holding a press conference at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada on Saturday. The senators — Republican Mike Rounds, independent Angus King, and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen — said Rubio told them the current Ukraine proposal is not the official US position, but instead lays out a “Russian wish list.”
“What he (Rubio) told us was that this was not the American proposal. This was a proposal that was received by someone… representing Russia in this proposal. It was given to Mr. Witkoff,” Rounds said, referring to Trump’s diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff. “It is not our recommendation. It is not our peace plan.” King corroborated those comments, saying “the leaked 28-point plan — which according to Secretary Rubio is not the administration’s position — it is essentially the wish list of the Russians that is now being presented to the Europeans and to the Ukrainians.” The plan would require Kyiv to cede territory, cut its military, and pledge never to join NATO.
Trump said Saturday it was not his final offer and he hoped to stop the fighting “one way or the other.”
– ‘Authored by the US’ –
Rubio asserted the proposal “was authored by the US.” “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine,” he said Saturday. But Shaheen said she and Rounds spoke to the top US diplomat while he was en route to Geneva for the latest negotiations with Ukrainian officials. Rounds said Rubio was “very frank” during their call. “It doesn’t look like normally something that would come out of our government, particularly the way it was written. It looked more like it was written in Russian to begin with,” Rounds said.
King noted that the plan should not reward Moscow for its invasion. “Everyone wants this war to end but we want it to end on a fair and just peace that respects the integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine and does not reward aggression and also provides adequate security guarantees,” he said.
Earlier Saturday, other US senators including some in Trump’s Republican party criticized Washington’s plan. “We will not achieve that lasting peace by offering (Russian President Vladimir) Putin concession after concession and fatally degrading Ukraine’s ability to defend itself,” the group of senators wrote in a statement. Senator Mitch McConnell, a veteran Republican, said “rewarding Russian butchery would be disastrous to America’s interests.” Writing on X, he said that Putin has “spent the entire year trying to play President Trump for a fool.”
Since the Russian invasion began in 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to keep Kyiv’s territory intact. In a Friday address to the nation, Zelensky said Ukraine faces one of the most challenging moments in its history, adding that he would propose “alternatives” to Trump’s proposal.
© 2024 AFP
