Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly said that President Donald Trump's disastrous 28-point peace plan for Ukraine is actually just a Russian “wish list” and not a US plan at all. Suddenly it becomes much clearer why the plan turned out the way it did. translation from Russian!
Last week, reports began to appear about large-scale peace plan it would require Ukraine to give up the Donbass, an industrial region in the east that Russia is coveting, reduce the size of its armed forces and agree not to use certain types of weapons, making it much more difficult for Ukraine to defend against a Russian military invasion. The concessions sent shockwaves through Europe and Ukraine as Trump demanded a response from Kyiv by Thanksgiving.
Initial reports claimed the plan came out of a meeting between Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, but now Secretary of State Marco Rubio is telling lawmakers the United States had nothing to do with it at all.
Speaking Saturday, Independent Maine Senator Angus King said Rubio explained that this plan “is not the position of the administration, but, in fact, represents a wish list of the Russians, which is now being presented to the Europeans and Ukrainians.”
Republican Senator from South Dakota Mike Rounds said At the same press conference, Rubio clearly distanced the US from the proposal. “This is not our recommendation, this is not our peace plan. This is a proposal that was received. And as a mediator, we agreed to share it,” Rounds said.
This was reported by two European diplomats. Axios that when they pressed the Trump administration for clarification, they were specifically told that this was not the “Trump Plan.”
The point of Rubio's latest revelation appears to be that, after months of negotiations, the United States has become merely a mouthpiece for Russia's continued quest for more territory and control.
But some call the retreat bullshit, including at the State Department.
“This is a blatant lie,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said. wrote on X Saturday. “As Secretary Rubio and the entire administration have consistently stated, this plan was developed by the United States with the participation of both the Russians and the Ukrainians.”
Last week, Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner as reported read the plan line by line to President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. But now U.S. officials have begun calling the plan simply a “framework.”
This story has been updated.
