U.S. senators critical of President Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war said Saturday they spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told them that the peace plan Mr. Trump is pushing Kyiv to accept is a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual U.S. plan.
Rubio on Saturday night rejected the claims, writing in a social media post that, “the peace proposal was authored by the U.S. 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.”
The 28-point peace plan was crafted by the Trump administration and the Kremlin without Ukraine’s involvement. It acquiesces to many Russian demands that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory. Mr. Trump says he wants Ukraine to accept the plan by late next week.
The senators earlier said Saturday it would only reward Moscow for its aggression and send a message to other leaders who have threatened their neighbors.
The senators’ opposition to the plan follows criticism from other U.S. lawmakers, including some Republicans, none of whom have the power to block it. The senators, who spoke at an international security conference in Canada, included a Democrat, an Independent and a Republican who does not plan to seek reelection next year.
“It rewards aggression. This is pure and simple. There’s no ethical, legal, moral, political justification for Russia claiming eastern Ukraine,” Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said during a panel discussion at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada.
King, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, compared the proposal to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler in 1938, a historic failed act of appeasement.
But King and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen later said they and their fellow senators at the forum spoke with Rubio. King said Rubio told them the plan “was not the administration’s plan” but a “wish list of the Russians.”
“This is blatantly false,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott posted on social media of King’s allegations. “As Secretary Rubio and the entire Administration has consistently maintained, this plan was authored by the United States, with input from both the Russians and Ukrainians.”
“As the Administration has consistently maintained, this plan was authored by the United States, with input from both the Russians and Ukrainians,” a senior U.S. official told CBS News in a statement Saturday night. “This plan has always been a hopeful start to continued negotiations, and eventually the signing of a final peace agreement once and for all.”
Shaheen said Rubio is on his way to Geneva for talks with the Europeans and Ukrainians. She said Rubio reached out to her and Republican Sen. Mike Rounds from South Dakota.
“This is a Russian proposal,” Shaheen said. “…There is so much in that plan that is totally unacceptable.”
Rounds from South Dakota also said “it is not our peace plan.”
“This administration was not responsible for this release in its current form,” Rounds said. “They want to utilize it as a starting point.”
Rounds said “it looked more like it was written in Russian to begin with.”
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina earlier said Sen. Mitch McConnell, a former Republican Senate party leader, didn’t go far enough in his criticism of it. McConnell said in a statement Friday that “if Administration officials are more concerned with appeasing Putin than securing real peace, then the President ought to find new advisers.”
“We should not do anything that makes (Putin) feel like he has a win here. Honestly, I think what Mitch said was short of what should be said,” said Tillis.
Tillis announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection shortly after he clashed with the Trump administration over its tax and spending package.
Putin welcomed the proposal late Friday, saying it “could form the basis of a final peace settlement” if the U.S. can get Ukraine and its European allies to agree.
Zelenskyy, in an address, did not reject the plan outright, but insisted on fair treatment while pledging to “work calmly” with Washington and other partners in what he called “truly one of the most difficult moments in our history.”
Earlier Saturday, Sheehan, Tillis, King, and Democratic Sens. Peter Welch of Vermont and Chris Coons of Delaware – all of whom are on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — issued a joint statement which said: “We share significant concerns over the details of the reported peace plan that has been released. 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. However, we will not achieve that lasting peace by offering Putin concession after concession and fatally degrading Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.”
In its 17th year, about 300 people gather annually at the Halifax International Security Forum held at Halifax’s Westin hotel. The forum attracts military officials, U.S. senators, diplomats and scholars but this year the Trump administration suspended participation of U.S. defense officials in events by think tanks, including the Halifax International Security Forum.
A large number of U.S. senators made the trip this year in part because of strained relations between Canada and the U.S. Mr. Trump has alienated America’s neighbor with his trade war and insistence that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state. Many Canadians now refuse to travel to the U.S. and border states like Shaheen’s New Hampshire are seeing a dramatic drop in tourism.
“There’s real concern about that strain. That’s one reason why there’s such a big delegation is here,” Shaheen said. “I will continue to object to what the president is doing in terms about tariffs and his comments because they are not only detrimental to Canada and our relationship, but I think they are detrimental globally. They show a lack of respect of sovereign nations.”
