U.S. President Donald Trump said on Nov. 25 that Ukraine faces no set deadline to accept the originally drafted 28-point proposal, walking back earlier remarks hinting he wanted a deal by Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n
“The deadline for me is when it\u2019s over,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One<\/a>. He added that U.S. negotiators were making progress in talks with both Moscow and Kyiv, adding that Russia had agreed to “some concessions,” although he didn’t provide any details.<\/p>\n A U.S.-drafted framework for ending the war developed behind closed doors by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in coordination with Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, first reported last week, has raised concerns that Washington may pressure Ukraine into signing a deal favorable to the Kremlin. <\/p>\n The Financial Times previously reported that the 28-point plan had been cut down to 19 points<\/a> during talks among U.S., Ukrainian, and European delegations in Geneva.<\/p>\n When asked about criticism of the 28-point proposal, Trump said “that was just a map.”<\/p>\n “That was not a plan. It was a concept. And from there, they\u2019re taking each one of the 28 points, and then you get down to 22 points. A lot of them were solved, and actually very favorably solved. So we\u2019ll see what happens.” <\/p>\n Trump added that his envoy Steve Witkoff would travel to Moscow<\/a> next week to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018Donetsk and maybe a land swap\u2019 \u2014 Witkoff promised Russian aides he could sway Trump, pressure Ukraine into peace deal in secret phone recording<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n In recent days, Trump had said he wanted Ukraine to agree to a peace deal by Thanksgiving. However, he and his aides have since walked back the firm deadline, saying instead they want an agreement “as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n Bloomberg reported<\/a> that during an Oct. 14 phone call with Putin\u2019s top aide Yuri Ushakov, Witkoff suggested working together on a ceasefire plan and arranging a Trump-Putin call before President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s White House visit later that week, referencing the recently concluded Gaza agreement as a potential model.<\/p>\n Asked about the report, Trump said he hadn\u2019t heard the recording but wasn\u2019t surprised. “That\u2019s what a dealmaker does,” he said. <\/p>\n “You know, because he’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia. You’ve got to say, look, they want this. You’ve got to convince them of this. You know, that’s a very standard form of negotiation. I haven’t heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiation.” <\/p>\n Trump added that Russia appeared to have the upper hand in the fighting and said it was in Ukraine\u2019s interest to strike an agreement. “Some Ukraine territory might be gotten by Russia anyway over the next couple of months,” he said, noting that security guarantees for Ukraine<\/a> were being worked out with Europe.<\/p>\n Describing current talks, he said: “Well, they\u2019re talking about going land both ways and trying to clean up a border. You can\u2019t go through the middle of a house. You can\u2019t go through the middle of a highway. So they\u2019re trying to work something. It\u2019s a complicated process. It doesn\u2019t go that quickly.”<\/p>\n