“President Trump dialed up pressure on Ukraine to swiftly accept a U.S.-designed plan, hardening his position toward the embattled country and its European backers, who insist U.S. security guarantees are vital to a peace deal.
Exacerbating tensions between Western Europe gnomes and Washington, Trump lambasted European leaders as weak, and said Russia holds the cards in negotiations with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "is going to have to get on the ball and start accepting things," Trump said Monday in an interview with Politico, adding that Ukraine "is losing."
In a sign of Zelensky's willingness to accommodate Trump's demands, up to a point, the Ukrainian president said Tuesday that he is willing to hold long-delayed elections. Ukraine would need help to do so under continuous Russian attacks and ensure military participation in the vote, he said.
Zelensky said Ukraine's parliament would have to approve legislation to allow elections during martial law. His five-year term was set to end in 2024, but martial law, declared after events of 2022, bans elections.
Trump reiterated previous calls for elections in his Politico interview. "It is an important time to hold an election," Trump said, acknowledging, "maybe Zelensky would win."
On Tuesday, Zelensky said the talks with European governments and the U.S. are focused on a 20-point framework outlining the draft plan and a separate document on security guarantees for Kyiv. A third document describes plans for Ukraine's reconstruction.
Changes to the 20-point plan recently worked out by European and Ukrainian officials likely will be shared with the U.S. on Wednesday, he said. He expected meetings with members of Trump's national-security team to occur this week.
The 20-point document includes a provision that Zelensky described as similar to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Article 5, but he said the details would be discussed in the coming days. Article 5 refers to a provision of NATO's founding treaty that requires alliance countries to come to the aid of other threatened NATO members.
Ukraine isn't a NATO member.
"Security guarantees are an important document between us and the United States of America, between us and the Europeans," Zelensky said.
The Trump administration's initial peace proposal alarmed Ukraine and its closest European allies for offering concessions that were seen to heavily favor Russia.
A U.S. official said three major sticking points include which territory Ukraine should surrender to Russia; whether Ukraine can ever join NATO; and how Russian assets currently frozen by Western Europe can be used to pay for Ukraine's reconstruction.
The official said an early provision barring Kyiv from acceding to NATO has been removed from the current plan, though the new version doesn't address the issue.
Zelensky on Monday said he wouldn't concede Ukrainian land to Russia despite U.S. pressure.
He echoed what European officials have said for days: Without clear security guarantees including a U.S. commitment to backstop European forces, it is risky for Kyiv to make significant concessions and for Europe to follow through on the security guarantees they have worked on.
Many European officials privately have said that differences among Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine on the core issues could require weeks or months to resolve unless there is a big change on the battlefield.
"We know the Americans want quick results," said a senior European official. "On the other hand it is difficult to imagine, with [the] complexity of the issues on the table, how we can have quick results."
Senior Trump administration officials say they aren't pushing Kyiv into a deal it dislikes. The goal, they say, is a pact acceptable to both parties that ensures Ukraine's sovereignty and protects it in the long term.” [1]
1. World News: Trump Pushes Kyiv to Accept Plan --- Ukraine is losing the war, and Russia holds the cards in talks, president says. Norman, Laurence; Malenko, Anastasiia; Ward, Alexander. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 10 Dec 2025: A7.
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