The United States President Donald Trump has offered a peace proposal to end the war raging since 2022 between Russia and Ukraine. What is more, Trump has given the deadline to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to seal the deal by 27 November 2025, the Thanksgiving Day. It is certainly a tall order to meet the deadline as the world leaders, mainly from Europe are scrambling to get a fair and dignified deal for the victim of the war, Ukraine. However, at the time of writing, it appears that the ball is in the Europeans’ court as they have to rise upto this defining moment for European security.

The proposal has been drafted by Trump’s team, the nature and composition of which is still not clear to leaders, observers and analysts. So it appears from the initial reactions of the world leaders. Donald Tursk, the Prime Minister of Poland, the frontline European state in supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty, wondered in a discussion meeting on the proposal, “Who is the author of this proposal?” The Senators in United States including those from Trump’s Republican Party said that the ‘document’ resembled a ‘Russia’s wish list’. French President Emmanuel Macron was said to vote against it if critical changes were not made in the proposal.
The other major reaction from Europe and Ukraine is that Europe cannot be kept out. It has a major stake in this war. The maximum support - military, economic and diplomatic to Ukraine -- was extended by Europe. The outcome of the deal will deeply impact European security, one way or the other. That is why Europe is asserting that it has to be a part of the solution and cannot be sidelined. The proposal consisted of 28 points which were discussed between American Administration and Ukrainian leadership last Sunday. Although, Zelenskyy and his team were being pressurised by the United States to conclude the deal, it appeared from deliberations that the first version of the proposal was completely one-sided. Ukraine had to sacrifice territories, downsize its army, pledged not to join NATO in future. Zelenskyy, while appreciating the initiatives of American leadership and thanking them, he was urging to conclude the deal with dignity and justice for his country. Virtually speaking to the Swedish Parliament, he pleaded that an outright aggression cannot be wished away. That will set a dangerous precedent for many vulnerable countries.
Echoing Zelenskyy’s concerns, Europe came up with a counter-peace plan. Kremlin has shown willingness to accept Trump’s 28-point peace proposal while rejecting the Europe’s proposal. However, after the first meeting between Ukraine and United States, the 28-point proposal was reduced to 19 points. The points taken out of the first proposal are yet to be made public. In the meantime, Donald Trump maintains, “don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening”. While the world keeps its fingers crossed, one can discuss the merits of the proposal and the political and strategic intent of the stakeholders – Russia, United States and Ukraine; the other stakeholder Europe is yet to jump into the ring.
From the 28-point proposal, it was clear to everyone that Donald Trump was attempting to normalise bilateral relations with Russia, possibly tap into Russian energy resources, reintegrate Russia into the world economy, and give a fait accompli to Zelenskyy by surrendering territories that Russia has annexed during the war. There was nothing that Putin was giving up except agreeing to stop attacking Ukraine. Even here, there was no concrete commitment by Russia to re-invade Ukraine.
Looking at the updated proposed peace agreement consisting of 19 points, there is no limit on the size of Ukrainian army which was being limited to 600,000 personnel under the initial proposal. Second, the question of amnesty for acts committed during the war was excluded from the new proposal whereas the initial proposal had stated that all parties involved in the conflict “will receive full amnesty for their actions during the war”. No more detail was available at the time of writing except the reactions of leaders after the first round of talks in Geneva.
Ukrainian President while leaving for Keiv, said that, “we will determine the next step and the timing. There is still something to work on – to make a final document and we need to do everything with dignity”. He added that he will discuss sensitive issues with Trump. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Geneva talks on Sunday were probably the most productive and meaningful meeting we have had so far in this entire process since we became involved. He hinted that the Thanksgiving deadline may be extended. The Kremlin’s top foreign policy official Yuri Ushakov, told reporters on Monday that the proposal would need to be discussed by all parties. No one has discussed with Russia so far. He said, “I would assume that it would be natural to expect the Americans to approach us to meet face-to-face and begin discussions.
The counter proposal drafted by Europe’s three main powers (E3) – Britain, France and Germany engaged with each point in the 28-point proposal of Donald Trump. It consists of 28 points. The salient points include guarantee for Ukraine’s sovereignty, a non-aggression pact between Russia and Ukraine and NATO, resolving all confusion of last 30 years on borders or Ukrainian independent identity. Ukraine will receive robust security guarantees. NATO agrees not to station troops under its command in Ukraine in peace time. NATO fighter jets will be stationed in Poland. Ukraine may not join NATO but will be allowed EU membership, a global development package for rebuilding Ukraine, and the most important, “If Russia invades Ukraine, in addition to a robust coordinated military response, all global sanctions will be restored and any kind of recognition for the new territory and all other benefits from this agreement will be withdrawn.
Other important points include re-including Russia into the G8, Ukraine agrees to sign the NPT. Ukraine will not recover its occupied sovereign territory through military means. Negotiations on territorial swaps will start from the Line of Contact. Europe concedes the leadership to United States on the last two points on the process of the implementation of the Agreement. It suggests that a Board of Peace, chaired by Donald Trump will monitor and guarantee the implementation of the Agreement and impose penalties for violation.
Following the signing of the Agreement, a ceasefire will immediately be effective upon both parties. Ceasefire modalities including monitoring will be agreed by both parties under US supervision. While the European plan appears to be balanced and fair to both parties, Russia has out rightly rejected it and denied to accept any active role by Europe in the peace process.
From Indian government perspective, it has maintained that solution should be found through dialogue and diplomacy. New Delhi through its Foreign Minister, has welcomed the peace initiative by the United States on Ukraine. However, India has refrained from commenting on the details of the proposal, indifferent to the popular saying that the ‘the Devil lies in the details’. All in all, a ceasefire following a peace deal is a crying need, both in Ukraine as well as Russia and the neighbouring countries.

Email:----------------------------dr.dkgiri@gmail.com