Trump shares missed opportunity for Ukraine-Russia peace deal

"You know, when I was in this office, and I talked about no cards, I said, "You have no cards?" That was the time to settle. I thought that would have been a much better time to settle, but they .. their wisdom decided not to do that. They have a lot of things against them right now," said the US president.

It should be noted that Trump referred to the absence of cards in relation to both Ukraine and Russia, so it is unclear exactly whom he meant.

Trump referred to cards during his meeting in the Oval Office with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on February 28. The conversation was tense - the US president said that Ukraine does not have the cards in hand, to which Zelenskyy replied, “I didn’t come here to play cards.”

The leaders’ summit on February 28 ended earlier than planned, and Zelenskyy returned to Kyiv sooner than expected. The meeting was described in the media as controversial and unsuccessful for Ukraine.

Later, in March of this year, Trump also spoke about the absence of cards in reference to Russia.

The US leader told Forbes journalists on board a plane that he had said Ukraine didn’t have the maps, that nobody really had the maps, and that Russia didn’t have maps either. He added that what needed to be done was to make a deal and stop the killing, calling the war senseless and saying that they were going to stop it.

Advancement of the US Peace Plan

In November, the US provided Kyiv with a so-called peace plan consisting of 28 points. It was developed by both Washington and Russia, although Trump’s team stated that it was also coordinated with Ukraine.

The plan contained many provisions unfavorable to Kyiv, including territorial concessions to Russia, a reduction in the size of the Ukrainian army, a veto on Ukraine joining NATO, a ban on long-range weapons, and other points.

Kyiv and Europe reacted with outrage to the US peace plan, after which the Ukrainian delegation, together with European representatives, met with US officials in Geneva. Media reports indicated that after the meeting, the plan was reportedly reduced from 28 points to 19, and the conditions for Ukraine were softened.

After Geneva, the Ukrainian delegation, led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, traveled to Florida to further refine the plan. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was not present at the meeting, stated afterward that the dialogue was constructive.

Then, on December 2, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner went to Moscow for talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The US side did not report details regarding the outcome of the meeting, while the Kremlin stated that no compromise had been reached, according to Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov. At the same time, all parties claimed that the meeting was productive, and Trump said that Russia wants to end the war, although he supposedly does not know Russia's further plans.