Trump’s ‘indecent proposal’: Why Zelensky has no choice but to reject peace plan
Hopes of a lasting peace in Ukraine appear to be dwindling, as the Trump administration is showing increased fatigue at its own lack of progress in ending Russia’s illegal invasion. What’s the president’s end goal, and will anyone involved ever agree to what he’s suggesting?
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In brief…
- JD Vance has suggested that the US has exhausted its options when it comes to securing peace in Ukraine, as two key members of the Trump administration pulled out of talks in London scheduled to discuss peace.
- Political activist Bill Browder tells The News Agents there’s “not going to be a peace treaty” due to the demands Trump has made of Ukraine, and how the president’s support of Russia has bolstered Putin’s confidence.
- The News Agents say there are no good options on the table for Ukraine, and believe Trump may attempt to use the Pope’s funeral as an event to push forward with a peace treaty.
What’s the story?
The Trump administration appears to be tiring of the stalled Ukraine peace process, with JD Vance saying the US is ready to "walk away" from its involvement in ending Russia's two-year, illegal invasion.
Donald Trump promised to bring an end to the conflict before entering The White House for a second time, but has so far achieved nothing of the sort.
During a recent visit to India, vice president JD Vance told reporters it had given both sides an "explicit proposal" for ending the war – involving both sides giving up some of its territory – and suggested this could be America's last ditch attempt to make good on Trump's 2024 campaign promise.
Trump's envoy Steven Witkoff – a real estate investor with no previous experience of negotiating peace deals in war zones – will meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin this week for a fourth time, with Vance saying he was "optimistic" of its outcome this time around.
On Wednesday 23 April, Witkoff, and US secretary of state Marco Rubio, pulled out of talks in London between American, Ukrainian and European officials at the last minute, resulting in a downgrade on the level of the talks.
‘There’s not going to be a peace treaty’
Sir Bill Browder, financier and political activist, tells The News Agents that given the evolving US sentiment towards securing a lasting ceasefire in Ukraine, there was little point in Rubio attending.
“Based on everything I can see and tell, there's not going to be a peace treaty – so why should the Secretary of State show up to a meeting in which nothing gets accomplished?” Browder says.
“As much as Trump wants this war to end, the terms that he wants to end this war on are so offensive to the Ukrainians and the Europeans that I just don't see how that's going to happen, and I suspect that's why Marco Rubio has dropped out.”
Trump has previously threatened to stop all aid to Ukraine, but Browder says the war-torn country would lose much more by giving into Trump’s Russia-favouring demands, than it would losing aid from the US, even if it makes up around 40% of its military budget.
“There are going to be big consequences for Volodymyr Zelensky in standing up to Trump, and the main consequences will be that the US will cut off military aid, and probably intelligence aid, to Ukraine, and hopefully that's where it stops,” Browder adds.
“My big fear is that the US, in some way, actually becomes allied with Russia, in which case we may see even worse things happen.
“Zelensky has no choice but to reject this indecent proposal that the United States is making – or trying to force Ukraine into making.”
Trump's apparent allegiance with Russia, Browder says, is a confusing stance – since Russia has a smaller GDP than countries such as Italy, and exports little, meaning that aligning America with the aggressor in the conflict "doesn't make sense from a national interest perspective, political perspective, or economic perspective."
“People ask me all the time, why is he doing this, and I don't know the answer,” he says.
“All I know is he is doing this, and it has very negative consequences for the Ukrainians, for the Europeans, for the UK and ultimately, for the Americans.”
He suggests that Trump's personal interests in a Russia / US alliance may be behind his supportive stance over the Ukraine war.
“Putin doesn't particularly want this war to end, because he sees himself in a strong position right now – for the first time, the United States president is on his side. Why would he stop a war in these circumstances?
“Additionally, Putin has lost – either through death or disability – close to a million soldiers. Why would he sacrifice that to all of a sudden just abandon his aim?”
What’s The News Agents’ take?
It has been reported that what the Trump administration is now offering as a peace treaty to Ukraine involves surrendering the contested Crimea region, taken from Ukraine 2014, to Russia.
"There are no good offers in any of this," says Emily Maitlis.
"Ukraine doesn't want to cede land. It doesn't want to surrender to Russia because it feels that Russia will just take even more, and it doesn't want to keep fighting a war it can't afford."
Jon Sopel describes America's current approach as having ditched any intentions on securing a ceasefire, and attempting to jump straight into lasting peace with "no confidence" being built between the warring countries before then.
Emily also suggests that there might be more to Witkoff and Rubio pulling out of this week's London talks – with another event on the horizon that the Trump administration may believe could offer a bigger platform to secure what it wants from a ceasefire or peace deal.
"They're waiting for the Pope's funeral," she says.
"The Pope's funeral now becomes the central meeting place for this deal to be forged. So when Trump wrote on social media that he's looking forward to the Pope's funeral, he probably did mean it, and he probably thinks that he's going to use it as the place to get another deal done."