Trump’s 28-Point Ukraine Peace Plan: A Bargain or a Mirage?

Spread love

A sweeping proposal circulating in Ukrainian media lays out Donald Trump’s vision for ending Europe’s deadliest war since WWII — but its compromises raise as many alarms as hopes.

By TRH Foreign Affairs Desk

New Delhi, November 21, 2025 — If the 28-point “Trump Peace Plan” circulating in Ukrainian media is authentic, it may rank among the most audacious diplomatic blueprints proposed in modern geopolitics. It is simultaneously sweeping, provocative, transactional — and unmistakably Trump.

This is not traditional diplomacy. This is a grand bargain that tries to freeze Europe’s bloodiest conflict since 1945 through a mix of carrot, stick, and geopolitical shock therapy.

The plan attempts what no Western leader has dared: locking Ukraine’s borders, limiting its army, reshaping NATO, reintegrating Russia, and offering security guarantees that bind Washington, Kyiv and Moscow into an uneasy new architecture.

Whether brilliance or bluster, its implications are enormous.

What Trump Offers Ukraine: Sovereignty, Security — and Concessions

The plan begins with a foundational gesture — recognition of Ukraine’s sovereignty — followed by a US-backed non-aggression pact involving Russia, Ukraine and Europe.

But the guarantees come at a price:

Ukraine must limit its military to 600,000 troops, down from 850,000.
Kyiv must renounce NATO membership in its constitution.
Ukraine cannot host NATO troops, though UK-France peacekeepers may still deploy.
If Ukraine ever invades Russia, US guarantees vanish instantly.

In return, Ukraine gets:

Security guarantees from the US
Full EU membership path
A global Ukraine Development Fund
$100 billion of Russian assets for reconstruction
Control over half of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s output via the IAEA
A nationwide prisoner/civilian exchange
A presidential election within 100 days

It is a mix of hope, hard realism and uncomfortable compromise.

What Trump Offers Russia: Reintegration Without Victory

For Moscow, the deal offers what Putin has long wanted: a halt to NATO expansion and a guarantee Ukraine won’t join the alliance.

But Trump also pushes Russia toward accountability:

A US-Russia hotline for treaty compliance
Reinstatement of the START nuclear treaty
A law enforcing Russia’s non-aggression pledge
Gradual lifting of sanctions — but only after compliance

Even more striking: Russia could rejoin the G8, restoring its global prestige.

This is the Trump doctrine at its most distilled: punish, pressure, reward — all within one page.

The Most Explosive Element: The Territorial Compromise

Point 21 is the political earthquake.

According to the plan:

Ukraine withdraws from remaining parts of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia withdraws from occupied territories in Kharkiv, Dnipro and Sumy.
Zaporozhzhia and Kherson become frozen lines.
Donetsk becomes Russian but demilitarized, a buffer zone no one controls militarily.

Both sides must agree not to change borders by force — ever.

This is not victory for either side. It is a geopolitical amputation designed to stop the bleeding.

A Trumpian Endgame: Freeze the War, Restart the World

The plan culminates in:

Full amnesty for all wartime actions
A binding peace enforced by a US-led Peace Council
Immediate ceasefire on land, air and sea
Mutual retreat to agreed positions

It imagines a clean ending to a dirty war — something history rarely grants.

Is This a Breakthrough or a Mirage?

To supporters, this plan shows Trump at his most pragmatic: a dealmaker trying to end a war the West has struggled to shape.

To critics, it is dangerously naïve, rewarding aggression and constraining Ukraine more than Russia.

To Europe, it is nothing short of a redefining of the continent’s security architecture — with Trump, not NATO, at the helm.

To Ukraine, it is a wrenching but possibly necessary conversation about survival.

To Russia, it is a pathway back to global respectability without territorial holy-grail victories.

Whether Trump actually adopts this exact plan is secondary. What matters is this: For the first time, a framework — detailed, controversial and brutally transactional — is on the table.

It forces the world to confront an uncomfortable truth: The end of the Ukraine war will not be clean. It will be negotiated, bitter, and stitched together from compromises no one loves.

Trump’s 28-point blueprint may not be the final peace plan. But it just might be the start of a global argument that was inevitable — and long overdue.

Follow The Raisina Hills on WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn