President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Berlin with a clear message and zero intention of playing along with a bad deal, flatly rejecting Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan during high level talks with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and European leaders.
Ukraine’s counterproposal is blunt and pragmatic: a ceasefire along the current front lines, no withdrawal from Ukrainian held territory in Donbas, and hard security guarantees from the US and Europe that actually mean something, modeled on Article 5 and requiring Congressional approval.
European officials back Zelensky’s skepticism, warning that Trump’s idea of a demilitarized zone would hand Russia exactly what it wants, space and ambiguity, allowing Moscow to slip back in later through covert forces, proxies, and hybrid warfare.
For Kyiv, this is not stubbornness, it is survival, and Berlin made clear that Ukraine is done entertaining peace plans that reward aggression and postpone the next invasion.