The Ukrainian Peace Plan Written by ... Russia?

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When President Trump’s peace plan to end the war in Ukraine was leaked last week, many felt as though Russia had written the proposal, and to a large degree, it reflected the Kremlin’s demands. The plan set off a global outcry that has forced American officials to revise their approach in the days since. Kim Barker and David E. Sanger explain the process that led to the contentious plan and why it comes at a vulnerable moment for Ukrainian leadership.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily.
0:11.2	When a U.S. peace plan to end the war in Ukraine was leaked last week, it looked to many like it had been written by Russia.
0:19.3	And to a large degree, it had been.
0:21.6	And it sparked a global outcry that has forced American officials to backtrack, revise,
0:26.6	and rethink their approach in the days since.
0:29.6	Today, my colleagues Kim Barker and David Sanger
0:33.6	on the backroom process that led to the controversial plan and why it comes at a vulnerable moment for Ukraine's leader.
0:41.3	— It's Wednesday, November 26.
1:05.6	Before we start, I just have one question, Kim.
1:07.5	What is that hat?
1:08.9	Oh, this is like this crazy hat that is made of feathers. I love it. I had lost it for a long time and I just found it. So that's the hat I'm wearing now. Oh, my God. It looks, it looks great. I couldn't tell if it was actually like one of those Soviet type hats that I was like very furry and very warm so it'll be coming with me back to
1:29.1	Kiev amazing it's cold there man I've heard Kim Barker welcome to the show thanks
1:34.8	very much for having me so there has been a lot of news about the war in Ukraine this past
1:40.0	week and a possible peace plan that might actually end it. But this is not the first time that we have
1:45.4	heard about plans to end the war. And it is kind of hard to tell at this point what is real
1:51.7	movement and what is not. So we're turning to you to try to understand what's happened. You've
1:56.7	spent a lot of time in Ukraine. You've covered the war. What do you make of what has happened in the past few days?
2:03.2	Yeah, it's been very confusing and a bit of whiplash in Ukraine as well with what happened last Thursday when this 28-point peace plan was leaked.
2:14.9	And all of a sudden, everybody in Ukraine is looking at this peace plan and they're
2:19.8	looking at every single point and saying to themselves, this sounds an awful lot like Russian
2:26.2	talking points, like everything Russia ever wanted. But then at the same time, they're hearing
2:32.7	that this is an American plan and there's a lot of pressure for Ukraine to accept it right away.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 23 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New York Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The New York Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.