European Leaders, US Lawmakers Weigh Trump’s Ukraine Peace Plan

The White House calls the framework a ‘win-win,’ while European leaders demand revisions and greater consultation with partners.

A man stands in a destroyed apartment after a Russian airstrike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 14, 2025. Oleksii Filippov/AFP via Getty Images

European leaders and some U.S. lawmakers intensified scrutiny this weekend of President Donald Trump’s 28-point peace proposal for Ukraine, which the White House said is a pragmatic blueprint designed to halt nearly four years of war and create what officials call a “win-win” security framework for all sides.

The White House said the plan would offer robust security guarantees and broad economic incentives in which both Russia and Ukraine “gain more than they must give,” while both Kyiv and key Western partners said it risks forcing Ukraine into hard concessions, limiting its defensive capabilities, and rewarding Russian aggression.

In a joint statement at the G20 summit in South Africa on Nov. 22, leaders of European Union (EU) institutions, along with France, Germany, Poland, the UK, and others, said the draft “includes important elements that will be essential for a just and lasting peace,” but called it a “basis which will require additional work.”

“We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force,” they said, adding that limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces “would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.”

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers—including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Chris Coons (D-Del.)—said they “share significant concerns” about the plan, stating in a Nov. 22 joint statement that “offering Putin concession after concession” risks fatally degrading Ukraine’s defense.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) compared the proposal to pre–World War II appeasement.

“This sounds like 1938 Munich,” he wrote on X, referring to a policy of appeasing Nazi Germany with territory and so emboldening Adolf Hitler to invade other European nations at the time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, by contrast, has welcomed the proposal, calling it a potential “basis for a final peaceful settlement,” adding that Moscow has seen the plan but has not yet discussed it in detail with Washington.

Trump told reporters on Nov. 22 that although the proposal is not his final offer, he is determined to see an end to the conflict.

White House Calls Framework ‘Win-Win’

Drafts of the proposal—crafted by Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—would require Ukraine to cede Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk, freeze front lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, permanently renounce NATO membership, and cap its armed forces at 600,000 troops. In exchange, sanctions on Russia would be lifted in phases and Moscow would be reintegrated into the global economy, including with an eventual return to the G8.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the framework is meant to secure “full security guarantees and deterrence for Ukraine, Europe, and Russia to ensure the end of the war,” while offering “financial opportunities for Ukraine to rebuild, and for Russia to rejoin the global economy, to benefit the people in both countries.”

“This plan was crafted to reflect the realities of the situation, after years of a devastating war, to find the best win-win scenario, where both parties gain more than they must give,” she said.

A senior U.S. official told The Epoch Times that the document was drafted following discussions with Rustem Umerov, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who agreed to a majority of the points and presented it to Zelenskyy. Umerov has said he lacked the authority to approve any terms but acknowledged continued consultations.

“Ukraine is carefully studying every proposal from our partners and clearly articulating its own position,” Umerov said in a statement on Telegram, according to a translation of the post. “No decisions exist—or can exist—beyond the limits of our sovereignty, the security of our people, and our red lines.”

Europe Welcomes Diplomacy But Seeks Revisions

European capitals—largely excluded from initial negotiations—have pushed back on the proposal’s territorial and military terms, while highlighting their intent to continue discussions with both Kyiv and Washington on a final plan that would ensure that any peace reached is “sustainable.”

Besides noting in their joint statement at the G20 summit in Johannesburg that any elements of Trump’s peace plan that relate to the EU and NATO would “need the consent of EU and NATO members respectively,” European leaders said that they fully support Ukraine and plan to “continue to coordinate closely with Ukraine and the US over the coming days.”

French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Nov. 22 that the Trump administration’s proposal “incorporates ideas that are quite familiar” and recognizes important principles on sovereignty and security guarantees, but he said that the plan “wasn’t negotiated with the Europeans” despite that it prescribes obligations for them.

“There are many things that can’t simply be an American proposal,” Macron said. “Frozen assets are held by Europeans. The European integration of Ukraine is in the hands of the Europeans. ... Knowing what NATO is doing is in the hands of NATO members.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoed that message, telling reporters in Johannesburg that “all matters about Ukraine must be determined in the end by Ukraine” and that any lasting peace requires “security guarantees.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had reiterated Europe’s position directly to Trump during a lengthy phone call shortly before leaving for the G20 summit, noting that he urged the U.S. president to consider Ukraine’s security needs and Russia’s past treaty violations. Merz said he reminded Trump that Moscow had already broken its commitments under the Budapest Memorandum.

“At that time, Ukraine renounced a large arsenal of weapons, including nuclear weapons, and in return received Russia’s commitment to accept the territorial integrity of that country in the long term,” Merz said. “Russia did not comply with this.”

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters in Brussels on Nov. 20 that the EU has “always supported a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace,” adding that the bloc’s objective is to weaken Russia and support Ukraine.

“Our position hasn’t changed. For any peace plan to succeed, it has to be supported by Ukraine, and it has to be supported by Europe,” she said.

Zelenskyy, in response to the plan, said Ukraine is facing “one of the most difficult moments” in its history, describing unprecedented pressure to accept terms he has repeatedly rejected.

“Either the loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner,” he said in a Nov. 21 national address. “We will–and must–do everything so that, as a result, the war ends, but Ukraine does not end.”

Negotiators from Ukraine, the United States, the UK, France, and Germany are set to meet in Geneva on Sunday, as European capitals prepare counterproposals and Kyiv seeks a formula for peace that Zelenskyy said is “built on guaranteed security and justice.”

“In the coming days, consultations with our partners will take place on the steps needed to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in a Nov. 22 national address. “Our representatives know how to defend Ukraine’s national interests and exactly what must be done to prevent Russia from launching a third invasion, another strike against Ukraine.”