Some U.S. lawmakers criticized the Trump administration’s proposed 28-point peace plan designed to end the Ukraine-Russia war on Saturday, saying the framework appears to favor Moscow.
The deal would require Ukraine to give up its eastern Donbas region and Crimea, and swear off NATO membership, according to a draft shared publicly by a Ukrainian opposition politician and confirmed by a White House official. The plan includes feedback from Russian and Ukrainian officials, and diplomatic conversations about it are ongoing. President Trump gave Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a suggested deadline of Thanksgiving Day to respond to the plan.
Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Thom Tillis, said in a statement on Saturday that they had “significant concerns over the details of the reported peace plan.”
“For over 10 years, Russia has illegally occupied Ukrainian territory and for almost 4 years, Ukraine has admirably defended itself against Russia’s attempts to fully occupy Ukraine. No one wants a just and lasting peace more than the Ukrainian people,” the committee members said in a statement. “However, we will not achieve that lasting peace by offering Putin concession after concession and fatally degrading Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.”
“History teaches us that Putin only understands strength and will not abide by any agreement unless it is backed by force,” the statement continued. “We must consult closely with our Ukrainian and NATO partners on the path forward. We should put real pressure on Russia to come to the negotiating table. And we must make clear to the Kremlin—and would-be aggressors in Beijing—that America will stand unwaveringly in defense of freedom.”
Co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus also criticized the reported peace plan, saying it “appears to favor the interest of the aggressor,” Russian President Vladimir Putin, “over the sovereignty and security of a democratic Ukraine.”
“This framework does not offer a genuine path to lasting peace, but instead, demands the surrender and capitulation of Ukraine to Russian aggression,” the caucus said in a statement shared on Saturday.
The Trump administration’s backing of the plan “raises serious concerns,” the caucus said.
“The international community must remain firm in supporting Ukraine, upholding the principles of territorial integrity and self-determination, and rejecting any plan that rewards an aggressor,” the caucus said. “Lasting peace comes not from conceding to aggression, but from the strength and unity of free nations that refuse to bow to it.”
European governments were not involved in drafting the proposal, according to European officials contacted by CBS News. Western leaders gathered at the G20 summit in South Africa said Saturday that the plan needs “additional work.”
The plan emerged following recent meetings between the U.S. and officials from both Russia and Ukraine. Mr. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with a key adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirill Dmitriev, on Oct. 24 in Miami, to develop the plan, CBS News reported Thursday.
Ukrainian envoys are set to meet with a U.S. delegation — including Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Witkoff — in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the proposal. Nine Ukrainian officials, including Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, are set to take part in the talks, the Associated Press reported.
Ukraine is commemorating its “great famine” on Saturday. The famine, imposed by Soviet leader Josef Stalin in the early 1930s, led to millions of deaths from starvation. In a video address, Zelenskyy addressed the country’s ongoing fight.
“We defended, defend and will always defend Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “Because only here is our home. And in our home, Russia will definitely not be the master.”
