Donald Trump has finally responded to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s pushback against his controversial 28-point “peace plan” for ending the Russia-Ukraine war and his remarks have already raised alarms among foreign-policy experts and U.S. allies.
While speaking to reporters at the White House alongside New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Trump was asked whether he had spoken with Zelensky about the plan. Trump insisted that “we have a plan,” calling the war “horrible” and claiming he knows “a way of getting peace.” But when pressed about Zelensky’s objections, Trump’s answer was blunt: if the Ukrainian leader dislikes the plan, “he’ll have to like it,” adding that otherwise “they should just keep fighting.”
The proposal that has leaked publicly includes several concessions that Ukraine has repeatedly rejected such as surrendering parts of Donetsk that Kyiv still controls, reducing its military to 600,000 troops, and formally pledging not to join NATO. In exchange, the U.S. would promise to respond decisively if Russia invades again.
Trump framed Zelensky as someone who “doesn’t have the cards,” repeating a phrase he used during a past Oval Office meeting. He also claimed he “inherited this war” and argued that Ukraine “should have made a deal a year ago, two years ago,” echoing talking points that many analysts say align far more with Moscow’s narrative than with America’s traditional pro-democracy stance.
Just hours earlier, Zelensky had addressed the Ukrainian people in an emotional speech outside the presidential palace in Kyiv. Without naming Trump directly, he warned that the country may be facing a “very difficult choice: either losing dignity, or risking the loss of a key partner.” He stressed that Ukraine will soon present its own alternatives and vowed that his government would not betray the principles it defended when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
His message was clear: Ukraine wants peace but not at the cost of territorial surrender or democratic independence.
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