The peace plan that US President Donald Trump is pushing Kiev to accept is a “wish list” of the Russians and not a real US plan, US senators said, reportedly told by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The 28-point peace plan was created by the Trump administration and the Kremlin without the participation of Ukraine. He agrees to many of Russia’s demands, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large territories. Trump says he wants Ukraine to accept the plan by the end of next week.
According to the AP news agency, US senators criticizing Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war said the peace plan would only reward Moscow for its aggression and send a message to other leaders who threaten their neighbors.
Read also | Putin warns that Ukraine could lose more territory if it rejects Trump’s peace plan
‘No justification for Russia claiming eastern Ukraine’: US senators
The senators’ opposition to the plan follows criticism from other US lawmakers, including some Republicans, none of whom have the power to block it. Senators who spoke at an international security conference in Canada included a Democrat, an independent and a Republican who does not plan to seek re-election next year.
“It rewards aggression. That’s it, pure and simple. There is no ethical, legal, moral, political justification for Russia to claim eastern Ukraine,” Maine independent senator Angus King said during a panel discussion at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada.
King, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, compared the proposal to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler in 1938, a historic failed appeasement act.
But King and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen later said they and their fellow senators had spoken with Rubio at the forum.
King said Rubio told them the plan “wasn’t the administration’s plan” but “the Russians’ wish list.”
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Shaheen said Rubio is on his way to Geneva for talks with Europeans and Ukrainians. She said Rubio reached out to her and Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota.
“This is a Russian proposal,” Shaheen said. “There is so much in that plan that it is completely unacceptable.
Kola, of South Dakota, also said “that’s not our peace plan.”
“This administration was not responsible for this release in its current form,” Rounds said. “They want to use that as a starting point.”
Rounds said that “it looked more like it was written in Russian”.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina earlier said Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Senate GOP leader, did not go far enough in his criticism. McConnell said in a statement Friday that “if administration officials are more concerned with appeasing Putin than securing real peace, then the president should find new advisers.”
“We shouldn’t do anything to make (Putin) feel like he’s won here. Honestly, I think what Mitch said was not enough that needed to be said,” Tillis said. Tillis announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election shortly after clashing with the Trump administration over its tax and spending package.
Putin welcomed the proposal late Friday, saying it “could form the basis of a final peace settlement” if the US can get Ukraine and its European allies to agree.
In his speech, Zelenskyy did not reject the plan outright, but insisted on fair treatment while pledging to “cooperate calmly” with Washington and other partners in what he called “truly one of the most difficult moments in our history.”
Read also | Trump says Ukraine peace proposal not final offer – ‘We have to end it’
Now in its 17th year, the Halifax International Security Forum, held at Halifax’s Westin Hotel, draws about 300 people annually. The forum attracts military officials, U.S. senators, diplomats and scholars, but this year the Trump administration suspended U.S. defense officials from participating in think tank events, including the Halifax International Security Forum.
A large number of US senators made the trip this year in part because of strained relations between Canada and the US. Trump has alienated America’s neighbor with his trade war and insistence that Canada become the 51st US state. Many Canadians are now refusing to travel to the US, and border states like Shaheen’s New Hampshire are seeing a dramatic drop in tourism.
“There’s a real concern about the tension. That’s one of the reasons why there’s such a large delegation here,” Shaheen said. “I will continue to object to what the president is doing in terms of tariffs and his comments because they are not only harmful to Canada and our relationship, but I think they are harmful globally. They show a lack of respect for sovereign nations.”
