Donald Trump sends 5-word warning to Zelensky as tension soars over Ukraine peace plan

Donald Trump has sent a warning to Volodymyr Zelensky (Image: Getty)

Donald Trump has broken his silence following Volodymyr Zelensky's apparent displeasure with the US President's 28-point peace plan for Ukraine. Speaking to reporters at the White House in the presence of New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Mr Trump was asked if he had spoken with the Ukrainian president about his plan to end the war.

"We have a plan. It's horrible, what's happening. It's a war that should have never happened," Mr Trump said. "We think we have a way of getting peace. He's going to have to approve it." The US President was then asked about the criticism received about the 28-point plan. Mr Trump replied: "You mean he [Zelensky] doesn't like it? He'll have to like it, and if he doesn't like it then they should just keep fighting I guess.

Mr Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office alongside New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (Image: Getty)

"At some point, he's going to have to accept something. You remember in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said 'You don't have the cards'.

"I inherited this war. I thought he should have made a deal a year ago, two years ago," Mr Trump added.

The widely leaked plan includes proposals that Kyiv had previously ruled out, including ceding areas of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls to Russia, reducing the size of its army to 600,000 troops, and pledging not to join NATO.

On Friday Zelensky warned Ukraine risks 'losing a key partner,' apparently referring to the US (Image: Getty)

It also includes a guarantee from the US that if Russia re-invades Ukraine, it would trigger a "decisive coordinated military response" and the reinstatement of sanctions on Moscow.

Mr Trump's brutal warning comes just hours after President Zelensky addressed the Ukrainian nation outside the presidential palace in Kyiv. He warned the country might face a "very difficult choice: either losing [its] dignity, or risk losing a key partner", apparently referring to the US.

He added: "Today is one of the most difficult moments in our history". Ukraine, he said, will propose "alternatives" to the plan. "I will present arguments, I will persuade, I will propose alternatives," he continued. "We did not betray Ukraine then" - referring to Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 - "we will not do so now".