Trump’s Ukraine peace plan in peril as Putin insists Russia is ready to fight ‘until the last Ukrainian dies’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has complicated former President Donald Trump’s peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, insisting that Moscow will not accept any deal unless Ukrainian forces withdraw from contested areas.

Since beginning his second term, Trump has pursued a series of initiatives aimed at resolving global conflicts, with the Russia-Ukraine war being among the most challenging. The ongoing war is now Europe’s deadliest since World War II.

Trump initially proposed a 28-point plan that seemed to favor Russia, requiring Ukraine to surrender territory, reduce its military, and abandon future NATO membership. Unsurprisingly, Kyiv rejected this initial offer.

After revisions and consultations with U.S. and European advisors, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed cautious optimism over a new draft presented on November 24, though specific details were not made public. Ukraine described the revised plan as leaving both sides feeling “positive.”

Russia, however, remained unimpressed. On November 27, Putin warned that if Ukrainian troops do not leave territories Moscow claims, Russia will use military force to achieve its goals. “Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the territories they hold, and then the fighting will cease. If they don’t leave, we shall achieve this by armed means,” he said.

Currently, Russia controls roughly a fifth of Ukraine, but Kyiv has consistently refused to cede land, even in the interest of peace. The conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and displaced millions.

Despite the tensions, Putin indicated some willingness to consider future agreements, stating that the U.S.-proposed plan “can be the basis for future agreements,” though disputes over territory remain a major obstacle.