Donald Trump warned peace plan set to fail as Russian people ‘conditioned’

Donald Trump has been warned that his deal to end the war in Ukraine is set to be rejected by Moscow, as Russians are conditioned against nothing less than "full victory". The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its daily report of the conflict that officials and state media "continue to set information conditions to reject the US-proposed 28-point peace plan, indicating that the Kremlin is actively conditioning the Russian people to not accept anything less than a full victory in Ukraine".

It noted that Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee First Deputy Head Alexei Chepa stated that any plan must adhere to Russia’s full demands. He also reiterated that Moscow’s objective is for any peace settlement to address the alleged “root causes” of its war in Ukraine. This is a "deliberately vague term that the Kremlin has long used as shorthand for its original war justifications and demands, such as the destruction of Ukrainian sovereignty and the NATO alliance".

The official also "implied that the proposed peace plan offers more concessions to Russia than previous proposals but is still insufficient to address Russia’s maximalist demands".

State Duma Defense Committee Member Andrei Kolesnik claimed that Russia will not give up any territories in Ukraine that it has illegally annexed, which "indicates that the Kremlin is uninterested in making any territorial compromises".

He also repeated a "false narrative" that a Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable, so Ukraine should submit to Russia’s full demands now.

Russian Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) Head and Duma Deputy Leonid Slutsky claimed that President Trump's peace plan is a “good basis” for a settlement but added that Russian advances in eastern Ukraine are “equally compelling arguments”.

Experts suggested that this implyies that Russia "remains committed to continuing its war in Ukraine on the battlefield".

Meanwhile, the ISW stated that Russian state TV channels and milbloggers highlighted similar narratives, "implying that Russia is not interested in any peace negotiations until it accomplishes its goals on the battlefield".

The ISW concluded that it "continues to assess that a Russian victory is not inevitable, however, and that Ukraine and the West can leverage several key Russian weaknesses to force the Kremlin to negotiate and make real concessions".

Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump agreed today to work together at a “critical moment” for Ukraine as the US called talks taking place in Geneva on its peace plan the “most productive” so far.

Sir Keir’s call with the US president was the second in as many days, and a Downing Street spokesperson said they discussed “various aspects” of the high-level talks focusing on the peace plan in Switzerland.

“They agreed that we all must work together at this critical moment to bring about a just and lasting peace,” No 10 said.

The two leaders spoke on Sunday as US, Ukrainian and European officials, including Sir Keir’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell, held meetings.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Ukrainian chief negotiator Andriy Yermak said “good progress” had been made at talks so far as they updated reporters.

Mr Rubio said it had been “probably the most productive and meaningful meeting so far in this entire process”.

He said the teams are now working on suggestions and “making some changes” in the hope of “narrowing the differences” between the US and Ukraine.