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Russia passed the paper outlining its conditions for a ceasefire to senior U.S. officials shortly after Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington. The unofficial document repeated long-standing Russian demands, including major territorial concessions previously rejected by Kyiv.
The White House did not comment directly on the Russian paper but reiterated Trump’s optimism about progress on a peace framework. It remains unclear why the administration began relying on Moscow’s draft.
Skepticism in Washington grew after the 28-point plan leaked last week, with officials and lawmakers describing it as closely aligned with the Kremlin’s position. According to Reuters, the plan was shaped in part during a meeting in Miami last month involving Trump’s adviser Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev — a meeting disclosed only to a small group of U.S. officials.
Following international backlash, U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators removed nine points from the proposal, ABC News reported. A senior American official said further revisions were made during talks in Geneva with European and Ukrainian counterparts.
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is currently in Abu Dhabi for discussions with a Russian delegation, while Ukrainian officials are also in the UAE for parallel talks with the U.S. team. Kyiv has signaled support for the revised structure of the proposal but stressed that sensitive issues require direct discussion between President Zelenskyy and Trump.
The Reuters report follows earlier leaks published by Bloomberg, including transcripts of Witkoff’s calls with Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov about how to present the plan to Trump — conversations both Moscow and Trump have downplayed. Politico previously reported that Trump’s primary objective is to end the war, regardless of the final terms of any agreement.
