Published: 12:53 AM, 24 November 2025
US and European officials meet over Ukraine as deadline looms
Washington's allies could be forgiven for a sense of déjà vu today, scrambling to unstitch another plan for Ukraine born in the USA but with Russian fingerprints all over it, reports CNN.
The 28-point plan to halt the Russia-Ukraine conflict sent European leaders, along with those of Canada and Japan, into triage mode on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa.
Their shock at such a bare and vague poorly-crafted proposal was reflected politely in a statement saying that the plan - devised by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian official Kirill Dmitriev - "will require additional work." One aspect of the plan, straight out of Moscow's playbook, especially alarmed them, "the proposed limitations on Ukraine's armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack."
Another was the way the plan sought to derail Europe's halting efforts to use frozen Russian assets - most of which are held in Europe - as a loan to tackle Ukraine's yawning deficit. And the suggestion that the US would act as an arbitrator between NATO and Russia, not as the leader of the alliance.
As much as its specific points, it is the overall tenor of the plan - and its implications far beyond Ukraine - that unnerve European leaders.
"Wars cannot be ended by great powers over the heads of the affected countries," said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. According to a draft, its provisions would include Kyiv ceding territory to Russia, giving up any ambitions to join NATO, and limiting the size of its army.
Like the proposal the Trump administration crafted which led to the ceasefire in Gaza, the Ukraine plan reads as bullet-pointed list, laying out commitments each side would make in order to drive a lasting end to the conflict.
The plan calls for a halt to fighting, global funding for reconstruction and a board overseeing the commitments led by the US president. The draft plan's veracity was confirmed by a US official.
>.Agency
