April 23, 2025.

After previously suggesting that the U.S. would not involve European representatives in negotiations

to end Russia's war against Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Whitkoff met in Paris last week

for talks with Ukrainian and European officials.

The U.S. presented what it called the outlines of a durable and lasting peace, even as

Russia continued to attack Ukrainian civilian areas.

A senior European official told Ilya Novakov, Amir Medani, and Jill Lawless of the Associated

Press that the Americans presented their plan as just ideas that could be changed. But Barack Ravid of Axios reported

on Friday that Trump was frustrated that the negotiations weren't productive and said he wanted

a quick solution. Talks were scheduled to resume today in London, but yesterday Rubio pulled out of them.

The U.S. plan is now a final offer, Ravid reported, and if the Ukrainians don't accept it, the U.S. will walk away.

On a bipartisan basis, since 2014, the United States has supported Ukraine's fight to push back Russia's

invasions. But Trump and his administration have rejected this position in favor of supporting

Russia. This shift has been clear in the negotiations for a solution. Trump required repeated concessions from Ukraine,

even as Russia continued bombing Ukraine. Axios' Ruvied saw the proposed final offer, and it

fits this pattern. The plan would recognize Russia's occupation of Ukraine's Crimea and its occupation of almost all of Luhansk Oblast and the portions of Donets, Kurson, and Zaporizia oblasts Russia has occupied.

This would essentially freeze the boundary of Ukraine at the battlefront.

Ukraine would promise not to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO,

the post-World War II defensive alliance that stood first against the aggression of the Soviet Union

and now stands against the aggression of Russia.

Sanctions imposed against Russia after its 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine would be lifted,

and the United States, in particular its energy and industrial sectors, would cooperate with Russia.

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