Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund – Vladimir Putin’s “slush fund” according to the US treasury – is believed to have been the person who leaked a disgraceful 28-point “peace plan” to the Axios news site on November 19th. The leak provoked fears that the Trump administration was about to force Ukraine to capitulate to Russia and initiated 10 days of diplomatic turmoil.
The plan was portrayed as a US proposal and was ardently supported by vice-president JD Vance. But it bore telltale signs of Russian authorship, such as a ban on “all Nazi ideology or activity”. Vance’s rival for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, secretary of state Marco Rubio, initially told US senators it was drawn up by Russia but then backtracked.
US president Donald Trump gave Volodymyr Zelenskiy an ultimatum: sign off on the “peace plan” by Thanksgiving Day, November 27th, or lose all US support. Indications that the White House had adopted a Russian plan as its own shocked Ukrainians, Europeans and much of Trump’s Republican Party.
The plan gave Russia a say over the size of the Ukrainian army, Ukraine’s relations with third countries and even the country’s education system. For Kyiv, the most unacceptable provision was the demand that Ukraine give Russia the remaining 25 per cent of the eastern province of Donetsk, which Russia has failed to conquer in 11 years, and for which many thousands of Ukrainians have died. The draft agreement specified that the entire eastern province would be “internationally recognised as territory belonging to the Russian Federation”.
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Publication of the plan enabled Putin to drive a wedge between Europeans and Ukrainians on the one hand, and the Trump administration on the other – even as Russia pursued its attacks on Ukrainian civilians, killing 26 people in the western city of Ternopil on the day it was leaked. The Russian army continued assaulting Pokrovsk, the city in Donetsk which Russia has been trying to seize for more than a year.
[ What is in Trump’s latest peace plan for Ukraine and Russia?Opens in new window ]
Whatever American input there was made sure that Russia and the US profited together from “peace”, with the US slated to receive 50 per cent of all profits while Europe and the World Bank paid to rebuild Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. As an editorial in the Financial Times stated, the proposal laid bare, “the true cynical, money-grabbing and self-interested nature of [Trump’s] world view”.
The plan did not elaborate on the “robust security guarantees” promised to Ukraine. The Politico news site reported that Rubio told European allies the US would only discuss long-term security guarantees after a peace deal was signed.
Rather than offend Trump, Europeans and Ukrainians pretended to welcome the plan as a basis for negotiations. They met in Geneva with Rubio, White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to produce a shorter, 19-point plan shorn of the most egregious Russian demands. The Kremlin labelled the revised plan “counterproductive”.
On the afternoon of November 25th, the Bloomberg wire service published transcripts of sensitive telephone conversations. The source of the transcripts was not stated, but no one contested their authenticity. The first conversation, between Witkoff and Putin’s diplomatic adviser, Yuri Ushakov, took place on October 14th, just after Trump imposed an extremely flawed ceasefire on Israel and Gaza. Witkoff coached Ushakov to ask Putin to telephone Trump to congratulate him, saying that if the Russian dictator flattered Trump sufficiently, “it’s going to be a really good call”.
[ Leaked audio reveals US envoy coached Putin aide on talking to TrumpOpens in new window ]
Zelenskiy was due to visit the White House three days later, by which time Putin’s phone call had ensured the US president would abandon all possibility of transferring long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.
In conversation with Ushakov, Witkoff accepted Russia’s demand for all of Donetsk. As Prof Timothy Snyder commented later, “Witkoff is not buying the Russian narrative; he’s selling it.”
Trump and Witkoff showed stunning amateurism in their intention to replicate the formula they had used in Gaza, as if ending wars in the Middle East and eastern Europe were as simple as developing beach resorts. “I’m even thinking that maybe we set out like a 20-point peace proposal, just like we did in Gaza,” Trump’s envoy told Ushakov. “We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace, and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you.” A few minutes later he added, “You know I have the deepest respect for President Putin.”
The other telephone conversation, between Ushakov and Dmitriev on October 29th, confirmed that that the “peace plan” concocted between Witkoff and Dmitriev in Florida originated in Moscow.
“Well, we need the maximum, don’t you think?” Ushakov asked.
“I think we’ll just make this paper from our position, and I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal,” Dmitriev replied. “And let them do like their own. But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.”
[ What exactly does Vladimir Putin hold over the cowardly Donald Trump?Opens in new window ]
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said Putin has played Trump for a fool and warned that “a deal that rewards aggression wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s written on”. Western commentators called Witkoff “witless” and “dummkopf”.
“It is clear that Witkoff fully favours the Russians,” Republican Congressman Don Bacon wrote on X. “He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired.”
In a normal country, Trump and Witkoff would be tried for treason.
Trump dropped his Thanksgiving Day ultimatum and made optimistic statements about an imminent peace agreement. The week ended with Zelenskiy planning yet another trip to the White House, and Witkoff scheduled to call on Putin for the sixth time this year. Witkoff has never visited Ukraine.
Much as Trump disdains Europe, its leaders apparently still hold some influence over him. After the August 15th Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage, eight European leaders accompanied Zelenskiy to Washington to stave off similar Russian demands.
This week, the Europeans did what they do best. They bureaucratised and diluted the crisis through endless meetings and declarations, preventing Trump from giving Ukraine to Putin, at least for the time being.
