US President Donald Trump has given Ukraine less than a week to accept his plan – widely seen as favoring Russia – to end the war, as President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country faced “one of the most difficult moments” in its history.
“I’ve had a lot of deadlines, but if things are working well, you tend to extend the deadlines. But Thursday is it,” the US president said in a radio interview with Fox News.
The 28-point plan put forward by Trump put pressure on Kyiv to cede territory, limit the size of its military and promise not to join NATO in exchange for an end to the war, all long-standing Kremlin demands.
It was characterized by Zelensky during a video address to the nation on Friday as presenting Ukraine with a choice between losing its dignity or a key ally.
Speaking from the Oval Office later in the day, Trump said he was confident the plan was a “way of getting peace” but said it still needed Zelensky’s approval. However, he suggested Zelensky had little choice but to accept.
“He’ll have to like it. And if he doesn’t like it then they should just keep fighting I guess,” Trump told reporters.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a security council briefing he had received the US proposal and that he believed it “could form the basis of a final peace settlement.”
The Russian president said he was ready to “show the flexibility” that was agreed upon during the summit with Trump in Alaska this August, but added that Russia had not “substantively” discussed the deal with the US.
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