Donald Trump’s attempt to bully Ukraine into agreeing to a peace deal with Russia has left the war-torn country in a desperate dilemma, Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Friday.
The Ukrainian president was responding to the Thanksgiving deadline that Trump has placed on the U.S. deal to end the war with Russia.
Trump said in a Fox News Radio interview that next Thursday was “an appropriate time” for Ukraine to decide whether to accept the peace plan.
But the 28-point proposal that Trump is pushing is seen as tantamount to capitulation in Kyiv. It includes many of the gains Russia had demanded—and that Zelensky and his European allies had previously deemed unacceptable.
They include limitations on Ukraine’s military and, crucially, the surrender of territory to Russia.
Few details have been released, but it is also said to include a security guarantee from the U.S. and Europe that they would respond militarily if Russia broke the terms of the agreement and resumed armed strikes.
The embattled Ukrainian leader said his country risked losing the U.S. as a “key ally” if it rejected the proposal.
“Ukraine may soon find itself before a very difficult choice,” Zelensky said on Friday. “Either the loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner. Either the difficult 28 points, or an extremely hard winter—the hardest one—and further risks.”
“I will present arguments, persuade, propose alternatives,” he said, promising “a constructive search for solutions,” he added.
“We will absolutely not give the enemy any reason to say that Ukraine does not want peace, that Ukraine is disrupting the process or that Ukraine is not ready for diplomacy. That will not happen,” he said.
The U.S. administration is said to be using a corruption scandal in Ukraine, Russia’s relentless attacks, and a growing civilian death tally to try to persuade Zelensky to back its latest effort to end the nearly four-year war.
Kyiv said it was not consulted on the drafting of the plan, which includes conceding some parts of the country it still controls to Russia.
At a meeting of his security cabinet on Friday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said he was ready to show Russia’s “flexibility,” but he added that Ukraine and some European allies had “an illusion that Russia can be strategically defeated.”
Earlier this year, Trump, losing patience with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, had claimed that Ukraine could recover the land it had lost to Russia and, “maybe even go further than that.”
Zelensky was having calls with his allies Friday as he struggled with the decision. British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was ultimately up to Ukraine to make the choice.
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