The leaked document, which critics say favours Putin, also says Russia will be welcomed back into the G8 and the US will trouser major cash rewards if Moscow agrees to it
Mad Vladimir Putin will only be “expected” not to wage war on his neighbours under Donald Trump’s peace plan to end the Ukraine war.
The leaked document, which critics say favours Putin, also says Russia will be welcomed back into the G8 and the US will trouser major cash rewards if Moscow agrees to it.
Under the plan, Ukraine’s military would be limited to 600,000 personnel – from more than 900,000 currently – and ban the country from seeking NATO membership and from having long-range missiles. It comes after Trump and Putin were accused of “macho posturing” following hints they might restart nuclear weapons testing.
Only one line in Trump’s plan is dedicated to Ukraine’s “security guarantees” and the proposal also bars NATO troops from the UK-led coalition of the willing from being sent on its territory.
And Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said he is ready to work with the US president on “their vision” for an end to the war. He said: “From the first days of the war, we have upheld one very simple position: Ukraine needs peace. A real peace – one that will not be broken by a third invasion.”
The Ukraine leader is set to meet the ex-Apprentice host in the coming days about the strategy.
The 28-point plan also says Crimea, the peninsula Putin annexed in 2014, would be internationally recognised as de facto Russian, alongside the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. And the Kremlin’s coffers would be boosted under a new long-term deal with the Americans involving rare earth metal extraction projects in the Arctic.
A source admitted the plan is “very comfortable for Putin”. But White House press chief Karoline Leavitt rubbished claims the proposal called on Kyiv to make major concessions to the Kremlin, insisting the US had engaged “equally with both sides”.
Speaking on Friday (November 21), UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he and the German and French leaders emphasised that “Ukraine must determine its future under its sovereignty” in a call with Zelensky about a US-backed peace plan.
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