Kremlin Rejects Europe’s Counterproposal

A top foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the European Union’s revised peace initiative for Ukraine, declaring that Moscow finds it entirely unacceptable and prefers President Donald Trump’s initial, far-reaching proposal.

Yuri Ushakov, one of Putin’s longest-serving aides, told reporters in Moscow that the EU plan “does not suit us constructively at all.” In contrast, he described Trump’s original 28-point framework — which reportedly included major concessions such as recognizing Russian control over large areas of Ukrainian territory and imposing strict limits on Kyiv’s future armed forces — as “more acceptable” to the Kremlin.

Trump’s proposal, delivered with an aggressive Thanksgiving deadline and implicit threats to withhold U.S. aid and intelligence from Ukraine, stunned Kyiv and its European allies, triggering emergency talks in Geneva over the weekend. Those discussions, involving the United States, Ukraine, and key European partners, trimmed the plan from 28 to 19 points and deferred the most sensitive territorial questions to future presidential-level negotiations.

During a Monday phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Putin reportedly praised Trump’s original plan as a “good foundation” for a final settlement, noting that it aligned with earlier Russian-American discussions at the Alaska summit.

The chasm between the two sides remains wide: Moscow seeks a deal that permanently enshrines and potentially expands its territorial gains, while Ukraine and Europe insist on full restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Geneva talks “major progress” but acknowledged that details still need to be finalized. President Trump, who on Sunday accused Kyiv of showing “zero gratitude,” struck a cautiously optimistic note on Monday, posting on social media that “something good just may be happening.”

Neither Trump nor Rubio has disclosed the specific changes made to the original plan, which had excluded European leaders from consultations and reportedly barred Ukraine from NATO membership while stationing European fighter jets in Poland. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul confirmed Monday that all provisions affecting Europe and NATO have now been removed from the revised text.