WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump dashed Kyiv\u2019s hopes of a peace summit this week to end the nearly four-year war with Russia \u2013 in an instant.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s chief advisor, Andriy Yermak, was in the middle of an interview with Post on Tuesday when Trump posted on Truth Social that he was sending\u00a0Army Sec. Dan Driscoll<\/a> to meet Ukrainians and sending Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow to continue talks for peace deal \u2013 effectively slowing down his previous goal of ending the killing by Thanksgiving.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yermak had just spent the past half-hour telling The Post that he hoped the 19-point proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war hammered out on Sunday would be adopted as a joint US-Ukraine plan, ideally with Trump and Zelensky signing the deal at Mar-a-Lago over the Thanksgiving holiday.<\/p>\n Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio talk to the press as their consultations continue at the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. AP<\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to hopefully meeting with President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages,\u201d Trump wrote, adding \u201clet\u2019s all hope that PEACE can be accomplished AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n Upon reading the full post, Yermak\u2019s face dropped, apparently gutted by the news. Asked for his reaction, Yermak asked to speak again in 24 hours to assess the new reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s necessary to wait and to understand with which position Driscoll will come, and to talk with Witkoff to understand which position he is going with to Moscow,\u201d Yermak said. \u201cWhat is good with President Trump is that he can change his position very quick.\u201d<\/p>\n Kyiv had wanted Zelensky and Trump to meet soon<\/a> \u2014 not for symbolism but because every day brings more Russian missile strikes and civilian deaths, he said.<\/p>\n Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) speaks during the press conference at the Moncloa Palace on November 18, 2025 in Madrid, Spain. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day it\u2019s a risk to lose best people, children. We have no time,\u201d Yermak said.<\/p>\n On the table is a 19-point proposal hammered out between Washington and Kyiv officials on Sunday that Yermak had hoped could be adopted by the US as a joint peace plan for Ukraine by the end of the week and push on the Kremlin.<\/p>\n Russia, however, had not committed \u2014 and was unlikely to do so after rejecting an earlier version deal more favorable to Moscow dubbed \u201cthe 28-point plan.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. President Donald Trump stands next to one of two turkeys ceremonially pardoned for Thanksgiving, during the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 25, 2025. REUTERS<\/p>\n The 19-point draft was and is far from final. Remaining \u201csensitive points\u201d still need to be resolved directly between Trump and Zelensky \u2014 something Yermak hoped they could do in a face-to-face meeting, ideally as soon as Thursday.<\/p>\n