Near Universal Criticism Except From Russia

The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Says Ukraine Peace Plan Isn't Final After Criticism It Favors Russia

President Trump said Saturday he could be open to changes in the administration's 28-point plan for ending the war in Ukraine after Kyiv, European governments and even some Republican lawmakers denounced it as far too heavily weighted in Moscow's favor.

"No, not my final," Trump said at the White House after he was asked if the terms were nonnegotiable. "We'd like to get to peace. It should've happened a long time ago." He didn't specify what changes were possible in the plan.

The administration has zigzagged repeatedly on aiding Ukraine or pressuring it to reach a deal with Moscow. Trump has previously mused about sending cruise missiles to Kyiv and predicted it might regain all the territory Russian forces occupy. But Trump's ultimatum to Ukraine signals a sharp turn by the administration to try to force through a deal on a short timeline.

Trump has given Ukraine a Thursday deadline to respond to the proposal, which would require Kyiv cede territory to Russia, block its ambitions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, cap the size of its military amid other major economic and political concessions to Moscow.

"If you ask me personally, I would rewrite everything," said Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur, calling the plan "100 to zero" in Russia's favor.

Some top Republicans condemned the proposal as appeasement to Russian President Vladimir Putin that, if realized, could lead to the collapse of Ukraine.

"We should not do anything that makes him feel like he has a win here," Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) said of Putin Saturday at a security conference of top Western defense officials and lawmakers in Halifax, Canada. "He invaded a sovereign nation. There is no quarter for a human being like that."

By Thursday?!

Yesterday, the Journal reported Trump Says He Wants Ukraine's Answer on Peace Plan by Thursday

"Thursday is, we think, an appropriate time," Trump told Fox News Radio's Brian Kilmeade in response to a question about whether he has given Ukraine a Thanksgiving deadline to agree to the plan.

Later on Friday, when asked by reporters about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's reaction to the proposal, Trump said: "He'll have to like it. And if he doesn't like it then, you know, they should just keep fighting."