Speaking to reporters Sunday, Trump said he was “a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal.”
It was unclear exactly which version of the peace plan Trump was referencing.
“His people love it. But he hasn’t. Russia is fine with it,” said Trump, on the Kennedy Center Awards’ red carpet in Washington.
“You know, Russia … I guess would rather have the whole country when you think of it. But Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure Zelenskyy is fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn’t read it.”
Despite Trump’s suggestion that Moscow was “fine” with the most up-to-date version of the deal, the Kremlin has indicated otherwise.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Sunday the American side would have to make “radical changes” to the draft on “some issues.”
Zelenskyy’s top negotiator said he would brief the Ukrainian leader Monday following the latest round of talks.
“The primary task of the Ukrainian team was to obtain from the American side complete information about their conversation in Moscow and all drafts of current proposals in order to discuss them in detail with the President of Ukraine,” Rustem Umerov said in a post on X. “We are working as intensively as possible,” he added.
Zelenskyy’s office did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday that he had spoken with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who held five hours of talks with Putin in Moscow last week. “The American envoys are aware of Ukraine’s core positions, and the conversation was constructive, though not easy,” he added.
In a separate interview Monday, Zelenskyy said elements of the U.S. plan required further discussion on a number of “sensitive issues.” There was still no “unified” view on the fate of the Donbas, the industrial eastern region that Putin wants in its entirety even though it’s still under partial Ukrainian control, he told Bloomberg News.
Trump approved a 28-point peace plan to end the war that included Ukraine ceding the territory, among other demands seen as favoring Russia. The plan appears to have undergone several changes after intense pushback from Kyiv and Europe.
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