Global & US Headlines
U.S. Hands Kyiv 28-Point Peace Draft Backed by Trump, Pressing Land and Army Cuts
On 20 Nov 2025, U.S. envoys delivered a Russia-consulted, 28-point cease-fire proposal to President Zelensky that conditions peace on Ukraine ceding occupied territories and halving its armed forces.
Focusing Facts
- Ukraine’s Presidential Office confirmed receipt of the draft in a Telegram post at 14:07 Kyiv time on 20 Nov 2025.
- The plan—written by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff after a month of talks with Kremlin counterpart Kirill Dmitriev—demands Ukraine cap its military at 400,000 troops and relinquish Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea and other Russian-held areas.
- EU foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas warned in Brussels the same day that any deal lacking Ukrainian and European consent is a “non-starter.”
Context
Washington asking Kyiv to trade territory for peace echoes the 1938 Munich Accord, when Europe pressured Czechoslovakia to surrender the Sudetenland under promises of ‘peace in our time’—promises that unraveled within a year. Strategically, the draft illustrates a century-long pendulum in U.S. foreign policy between idealist commitments (e.g., the 1994 Budapest Memorandum’s security assurances to Ukraine) and realist retrenchment that prioritizes rapid conflict termination over the inviolability of borders. If accepted, it could normalize territorial revisionism by force, much as the 1975 Helsinki Final Act inadvertently ratified post-WWII boundaries, reshaping European security for decades. Conversely, Kyiv’s rejection could entrench a frozen conflict akin to Korea’s 1953 armistice, locking Europe into another generation of militarized stalemate. Either way, the episode tests whether post-1945 norms against conquest survive into the next 100 years or are supplanted by great-power brokerage indifferent to smaller states’ sovereignty.
Perspectives
U.S. and European mainstream outlets
Bloomberg via Military, RNZ, BBC, The Moscow Times, The Hindu — They depict the 28-point U.S.–Russia draft as a humiliating deal that asks Kyiv to cede land, lift sanctions on Moscow and slash its army, an arrangement widely judged in Brussels as favouring the Kremlin. Emphasising the plan’s imbalance lets these outlets critique President Trump and Putin alike, but their focus on worst-case concessions can marginalise discussion of any potential war-ending benefits.
Ukrainian government-aligned media
Ukrinform — Ukrinform highlights Zelenskyy’s acceptance of the draft as a fresh ‘diplomatic opportunity’ and his eagerness to work with President Trump toward a ‘dignified end to the war.’ By foregrounding cooperation with Washington and omitting the plan’s territorial and military sacrifices, the outlet shields the government from domestic backlash while safeguarding crucial U.S. support.
Turkish state-run media
Anadolu Ajansı — Anadolu frames the proposal as a month-long, balanced effort shaped by input from both Kyiv and Moscow, stressing that ‘both sides will have to make concessions’ and that Zelenskyy is willing to engage. Echoing Ankara’s mediator image, the agency soft-pedals the proposal’s pro-Russian provisions and amplifies U.S. claims of even-handedness, serving Turkey’s interest in staying on good terms with all parties.