WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 — The Trump administration is pushing hard for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept the new edition of a U.S.-brokered peace deal, which may lead to major territorial losses for Ukraine, according to U.S. online media outlet Axios.
Citing two Ukrainian officials, Axios said Monday that U.S. presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner discussed the plan with Zelensky in a two-hour call on Saturday, requiring a clear “yes” from the Ukrainian leader.
Asked in a Politico interview released Tuesday whether he had set a timeline for Zelensky to decide on the deal, Trump said Monday: “Well, he’s gonna have to get on the ball and start, uh, accepting things … ’cause he’s losing.”
The Financial Times reported Tuesday that Trump was hoping for a deal agreed “by Christmas,” and Zelensky told the U.S. mediators that he needed time to consult with European allies.
Witkoff and Kushner concluded three-day talks with Ukraine’s top negotiators on Saturday in Miami, the U.S. state of Florida, after a roughly five-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the deal in Moscow earlier last week.
During negotiations, Russia demanded that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, including lands under Kiev’s control.
“It felt like the U.S. was trying to sell us in different ways the Russian desire to take the whole of Donbas and that the Americans wanted Zelensky to accept all of it in the phone call,” a Ukrainian official told Axios.
Trump said at an event Sunday that he was “a little bit disappointed” to hear Zelensky had not read the proposal, hours after Zelensky depicted the peace talks with the U.S. as “constructive” but “not easy.”
Zelensky met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to discuss Ukraine peace in London on Monday.
According to a British government release after the meeting, the leaders underscored the need for a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
