April 28, 2025, 6 p.m.
President Trump is demanding that Russia and Ukraine strike a permanent ceasefire. But many in Europe fear that the Trump administration might abandon Kyiv entirely if progress isn’t made to end the three-year-old war soon, and that Trump is demanding far too much of Ukraine and little from Russia.
The messaging from the White House is mixed. Trump lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin last week for striking the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv amidst an ongoing push for a peace process. Trump also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral over the weekend, a meeting that both sides characterized as productive. It was the first time the two leaders had met since their contentious Oval Office showdown in February.
But the harsh rhetoric toward Putin belies the fact that the Trump administration’s plans to end the war appear directly aligned with Russia’s. Several European diplomats, speaking on background in order to talk candidly, noted that Trump administration officials could have copied and pasted Putin’s wish list for ending the war.
Among the proposals the Trump team is floating are recognition of Russia’s control over the Crimean peninsula—which Moscow annexed illegally in 2014—and a commitment that Ukraine will not join NATO. What’s more, the Trump team appears open to allowing Russia to maintain de facto control over the regions it has occupied since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Trump’s team is also discussing lifting sanctions on Russia and normalizing relations with the country, all while refusing to provide Ukraine with security guarantees.
Ukrainian officials have set out to convince the Trump administration that it’s really Moscow that is the impediment to peace, not Kyiv. But in Ukraine, observers are watching the discussions on the global stage with growing despair.
“Kyiv doesn’t need U.S. assistance for capitulation. We need help to keep fighting,” said Misha Gannytskyi, director general of the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News. “People here are frustrated and disappointed with the current position of the U.S.”
“Ukrainians don’t want to accept Trump’s mind-flow,” Gannytskyi added, pointing to the president’s seemingly contradictory statements about the war.
Many observers note that the Trump team is making demands only of Ukraine. Previous attempts to agree on a ceasefire also appeared to help Moscow, and many of the Trump administration’s policies have already benefitted Russia. Now, Putin says he will agree to a three-day pause in fighting starting in May. But few Ukrainians believe they can take Putin at his word. They hope Trump will view Putin’s pledge with similar skepticism.
"If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately. Why wait until May 8?" said Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday, pointing out that Russia only plans to begin the ceasefire to align with its May 9 Victory Day parade, a major international event Moscow organizes to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Heorhii Tykhyi, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman, also pointed out that Russia had violated the terms of previous ceasefires, casting doubt on Moscow’s commitment to pause the fighting.
“This is not serious. We need a full ceasefire,” Tykhyi said of Moscow’s proposal for a ceasefire in May. “Ukraine is ready. But it’s up to Moscow to say whether they are ready.”
Meanwhile, Taras Berezovets, a Ukrainian political analyst originally from Crimea, said Ukrainians are “unhappy with the White House’s plans.” Many in Ukraine are also unsure about whether the Trump team, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, is negotiating effectively with Moscow.
“Trump’s team seems to be overconfident,” Berezovets told National Journal. “They think Witkoff has the best expertise on Ukraine and Russia.”
Witkoff, a Florida real estate developer who has been charged with negotiating an end to the war between Israel and Hamas and a new Iran nuclear deal, is also tasked with ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
He’s traveled to Moscow at least four times in the last several months, with the most recent visit taking place last week. Meanwhile, Trump’s envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Gen. Keith Kellogg, has been completely sidelined. Many observers say that’s because Russian officials asked to interact with Witkoff instead of Kellogg, who is viewed as a Russia hawk. Witkoff, on the other hand, has long-standing business relations with a Florida-based Russian oligarch who has ties to Putin. This scenario has created the widespread impression that Witkoff is developing a personal relationship with Putin and his inner circle that may be influencing his views on how to end the war.
U.S. voters aren’t particularly enamored with Trump’s approach to Ukraine, either. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Friday showed that 56 percent of respondents disapproved of the president’s handling of the conflict, compared to 35 percent who approved.
Some European officials argue the Trump administration’s approach to ending the war will only allow Russia to regroup so that it can launch a larger attack in the future. Many say that Washington should continue arming Ukraine and ramping up economic pressure on Moscow to ensure that Kyiv is negotiating from a position of strength. According to some estimates, there is around $90 billion appropriated for Ukraine and European security initiatives that the U.S. has not yet disbursed. House and Senate Democrats have also slammed Trump’s proposals to end the war, arguing that they would be giving Putin “exactly what he wants.”
“Ukraine has already agreed to an unconditional general ceasefire. Putin has not,” Reps. Gregory Meeks, Jim Himes, and Adam Smith, and Sens. Jack Reed, Chris Coons, and Mark Kelly said in a joint statement on Friday.
“It makes no sense to force Ukraine to cede land illegally seized in Russian invasions now and remove economic sanctions against Russia,” they added. “Rather than seeking concessions from Russia, the administration is shifting the pain to Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials insist they won’t accept many of the terms on the table. Zelensky has ruled out any deal that would recognize Russia’s control over Crimea, arguing that it would violate the country’s constitution. That has angered Trump administration officials, with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing that Washington could abandon the peace negotiations.
Volodymyr Dubovyk, an international-relations professor from the city of Odessa, said that many Ukrainians still hope the Trump administration will “come to their senses” and “be fair and diplomatic.”
“This is not the case, obviously, so everyone is just taken aback as to why Ukraine was fighting so valiantly and sacrificed so much just to surrender now because Trump wants it to,” Dubovyk said. “It seems that Ukraine is now dealing with pressure from both Russia and the U.S. playing from the same notes.
“Ukraine wants peace badly,” he added. “But not at any expense, and not by agreeing to something which would make its fate even more troubled and its security more fragile down the road.”
Trump has said that he hopes to end the war, now in its third year, by his 100th day in office. That deadline is quickly approaching, and some fear Washington could walk away from the peace process if there isn’t some major breakthrough on Trump’s timeline. On Sunday, Rubio said the administration will decide sometime this week whether it’s worth continuing to push for peace.
“We have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally if not more important in some cases,” Rubio told NBC’s Meet the Press. “There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic, of course, as well. We’re close, but we’re not close enough.”
