The Trump administration’s Army secretary will sit down Tuesday with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi to present a slimmed-down plan to end Moscow’s 33-month-old invasion of Ukraine.
Dan Driscoll arrived in the Middle East after representatives from Washington and Kyiv hammered out a revised framework to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
The new plan — said to include about 19 points — no longer includes the requirement that Ukraine give up all of its eastern Donbas region to Russia, one of the most contentious elements of the 28-point framework Driscoll presented to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week.
Instead, the issue of territorial claims will be left to President Trump and Zelensky to hammer out at a later date, two people familiar with the discussions told The Post Monday.
The new plan also eliminates a requirement that Ukraine give up any ambition of joining NATO, a concession sought by Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his February 2022 invasion.
Following weekend talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Geneva, Switzerland, Zelensky predicted on X that Russia would try to “derail this opportunity for an agreement and to prolong the war.”
“We can see which interests are intertwined, and who is trying to weaken our position — Ukraine’s position — spreading disinformation, intimidating our people,” he said. “We are countering every such attempt to derail the end of the war.”
The White House had previously pushed for Ukraine to sign on to the 28-point peace outline by Thanksgiving — though Trump claimed Saturday it did not constitute a “final offer,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday the framework was “a living, breathing document.” --->READ MORE HERE
A new version of a peace plan hammered out on between senior Washington and Kyiv delegations is proving more palatable to Ukrainians — and would remove several provisions that were previously described by US officials as “maximalist demands” by Moscow.
The new plan — said to include about 19 points — would nix one of the most controversial provisions of the 28-point plan reported last week — that Ukraine would have to give up territory in the Donbas that Russia has been unable to conquer in more than 11 years of war there, The Post can reveal.
Instead, the issue of territorial claims will be left to President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hammer out at a later date, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
It would also get rid of another sticking point in which Ukraine would have had to promise never to join NATO — a goal Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has sought before invading the country in 2022.
Still, Zelensky in a Monday afternoon post to X said the new plan is not yet finalized.
“Now the list of necessary steps to end the war can become doable,” he wrote. “As of now, after Geneva, there are fewer points — no longer 28 — and many of the right elements have been taken into account in this framework.
“There is still work for all of us to do together to finalize the document, and we must do everything with dignity.”
He further predicted that Russia would try to “derail this opportunity for an agreement and to prolong the war.”
“We can see which interests are intertwined, and who is trying to weaken our position — Ukraine’s position — spreading disinformation, intimidating our people,” he said. “We are countering every such attempt to derail the end of the war.”
The White House had previously pushed for a peace deal signing by Thanksgiving — though Trump on Saturday said it was not a “final offer” kind of agreement.
As of Monday afternoon, there was no plan for Zelensky to come to the White House before the holiday, though White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration feels “optimistic” about the updated version of the plan.
Asked Monday to confirm the details of the 19-point draft of the deal, the White House referred The Post to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments on Sunday stating that the agreement was “a living, breathing document” that has “evolved.”
“None of it is insurmountable,” Rubio added at the time. “The items that remain open are not insurmountable, we just need more time.”
The original 28-point plan began with the US trying to get Russia to put in writing what it wants to end the war — a “wish list” of what they would be willing to accept, multiple US and Ukrainian officials told The Post. --->READ MORE HERE
The original 28-point plan for peace in Ukraine was drafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner after “secret meetings” with a Kremlin insider in Miami – and Secretary of State Marco Rubio only learned the “full scope” of the proposal once it was leaked, according to a report.
The plan, which has since been revised to 19 points, initially demanded Ukraine make heavy concessions – including giving up territory in the east, capping the size of its military and agreeing to never join NATO – while asking Russia to barely give up anything.
Witkoff and Kushner started working on the document in October, after Trump tasked administration officials with hatching a plan to end the bloodiest fighting in Europe since World War II in the wake of brokering a peace deal in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The pair held “secret meetings” and dinners in Miami with Kirill Dmitriev, a financier and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while working out the details of the peace plan, according to the outlet.
“They brought him to Miami the weekend before Halloween for what would be three days of intensive discussions over dinner and extended conversation at Witkoff’s home,” US officials and people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
Dmitriev demanded the controversial points on NATO membership and Ukrainian territorial concessions be included.
He also pushed for the Ukrainian troop cap and economic agreements between Washington and Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal noted that Witkoff, Kushner and Dmitriev had “similar views” on what the plan should look like.
The special envoy determined that the plan should be weighted more toward Moscow’s goals after concluding that Ukraine was in a weaker position than Russia, through discussions with US and foreign officials and reading intelligence reports.
The plan, with terms favorable for Moscow, shocked supporters of the Ukrainian war effort, including congressional lawmakers, when it leaked last week.
US officials, however, argued that it reflected “a good-faith attempt by Witkoff and Kushner to gain the support” of Putin without completely abandoning Ukraine. --->READ MORE HERE
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