Trump knows how to 'put leverage' on Russia, Ukraine to reach peace deal, US envoy says
U.S. President Donald Trump "understands how to put leverage" on both Russia and Ukraine to conclude a peace deal, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker said in an interview with Fox News published on Dec. 8.
The comments underscore the Trump administration's strategy of interchangeably exerting pressure on Kyiv and Moscow, even though Washington's European partners threw their support behind Ukraine as it faces an all-out Russian invasion.
Trump's strategy for resolving the war has been marked by frequent turnarounds. The U.S. president has significantly reduced military assistance to Ukraine while also imposing sanctions on Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil.
Recent weeks have seen a flurry of negotiations between U.S. envoys and Ukrainian and Russian officials regarding a 28-point peace plan unveiled in November.
While hailing "significant progress" in the peace efforts, Whitaker acknowledged that Trump could decide to "step away" if he sees there is "no deal to be had."
The original version of the plan, drafted in cooperation with Russia, imposed punishing conditions on Ukraine, demanding it cede the entire eastern Donbas region, limit the size of its military, and relinquish its NATO aspirations — conditions that closely echo Moscow's maximalist demands.
While the proposal has since been revised and condensed to 20 points, President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that there is still no "unified view" on the status of Donbas, a region comprising Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Speaking to journalists, the president said that the issues of territory, security guarantees, and the allocation of European funds remain unresolved. Ukraine and its European partners are to finalize their proposals on Dec. 9 and present them to the U.S., he said.
Russian forces occupy almost the entire Luhansk Oblast and about 70% of Donetsk Oblast and are making steady but costly advances at the front in Ukraine's east.
Zelensky met with European leaders in London earlier on Dec. 8 to unify their strategy amid renewed U.S. pressure. Trump took to criticize Zelensky's stance on the peace efforts, claiming that the Ukrainian president has not read the peace deal while Russia is allegedly "fine with it."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has been more cautious in his rhetoric, saying that Moscow awaits the results of the U.S.-Ukraine talks.
