After meeting with President Putin, President Trump imposes sanctions on Russian oil companies
President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil after talks with President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine failed.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war would recognize Crimea and other parts of eastern Ukraine as Russian territory, block future NATO expansion and ban both countries from using military force if a plan is agreed.
According to the 28-point plan, a copy of which was obtained by USA TODAY and reviewed by experts, Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk would be “recognized as de facto Russia, including by the United States.”
“Kherson and Zaporizhia will be frozen along the contact line. This means de facto recognition along the contact line,” the proposal states. “Russia will abandon other agreed areas it controls outside of the five regions.”
The proposal also states that “Russia is not expected to invade neighboring countries and NATO will not expand further.”
Trump’s proposal would require the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to make significant concessions to end the war. It would require a constitutional amendment to cap the size of Ukraine’s military and ban it from joining NATO. Ukraine would also have to surrender to Russia land not currently controlled by Vladimir Putin’s forces. “Ukrainian forces will withdraw from the part of Donetsk Oblast that they currently control, and this withdrawal zone will be considered a neutral demilitarized buffer zone and internationally recognized as territory belonging to the Russian Federation,” the proposal said. “Russian troops will not enter this demilitarized zone.”
Russia currently controls about 20% of Ukraine, including parts of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and most of Luhansk. It has occupied Crimea since 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“After agreeing on future territorial agreements, both the Russian Federation and Ukraine undertake not to change these agreements by force. No security guarantees will apply in the event of a violation of this commitment,” the proposal reads.
President Trump’s proposal also calls for limiting the size of Ukraine’s military to 600,000 soldiers. As of January, there were an estimated 880,000 active duty personnel in Ukraine.
Axios was first to report on the proposal, but U.S. officials emphasized that it was a preliminary document.
“Ending a war as complex and deadly as the Ukraine war requires a serious and broad exchange of real ideas. And achieving a lasting peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That’s why we have and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas to end this war, based on input from both sides of this conflict,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Nov. 19 post on X.
