Ukraine Rejects Trump Peace Plan’s Core Demands on Territory, NATO, and Troops

KYIV:  A stark disconnect has emerged between the public optimism of the US administration and the reality of tough negotiations currently underway to broker an end to the war in Ukraine.

While President Trump proclaimed “tremendous progress” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a “relentlessly upbeat tone” after “very positive” talks in Geneva, a senior Ukrainian source with direct knowledge of the negotiations has revealed to CNN that at least three critical points of disagreement remain—all touching on Ukraine’s core sovereignty and security.

The source conceded that a “consensus” had been reached on most of the 28 items in the leaked US peace proposals, but stressed that the three unresolved issues are far from the “few remaining points” claimed by US officials.

The crucial differences relate directly to the issues Russia has long cited as its reasons for waging war:

Earlier US proposals called for Ukraine to surrender key territories in the Donbas region—including the heavily defended “fortress belt” of towns—to become a Russian-administered demilitarized zone. The Ukrainian source stated that while there has been “certain progress” on the proposal, no agreement on substance or final wording has been reached. “It would be very wrong to say we have now the version that is accepted by Ukraine,” the source emphasized.

The controversial proposal to limit the size of Ukraine’s military to 600,000 personnel—a figure included in the 28-point plan—is still being discussed. The source noted a new, higher figure has been spoken about, but Kyiv still demands further changes before agreeing to any limitation on its defense forces.

The demand that Ukraine renounce its ambition to become a NATO member remains unacceptable to Kyiv. Ukraine views such a concession as setting a “bad precedent” and effectively granting Russia a permanent veto over the Western military alliance.

These three points—territorial surrender, demilitarization, and permanent exclusion from NATO—are long-standing red lines for Ukraine, over which tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops have fought and died. Any formal retreat on these issues would pose immense political risk for the leadership in Kyiv.