Sergey Lagodinsky, a German lawyer and member of the European Parliament, took to social media to voice his dismay regarding the U.S.’s three-stage peace plan for Ukraine, calling it a “gift by Trump to Putin.”
Newsweek contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for comment via email.
Why It Matters
European countries have criticized the peace talks between American and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, accusing the U.S. of sidelining Ukraine and alleging that it had made concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin before the talks began.
Government officials representing the United Kingdom, Lithuania and Germany have spoken out and demanded that Kyiv have a seat at the table during peace negotiations.
Alexei Nikolsky/Associated Press
What To Know
On Tuesday, Lagodinsky wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “According to my sources: the proposal by #Trump consists of 3 stages: 1) a ceasefire 2) ELECTIONS in Ukraine 3) signing of a final agreement.”
He continued: “This is complete fulfillment of all #Putin desires. Especially the election part is a gift by Trump to Putin. Putin hates @ZelenskyyUa ‘cuz he defeated his plans to subjugate #Ukraine. And dreams to get a pro-Russia candidate after the exhausting war. For Trump it would also be handy to get a president who would be so weak that he would sing off all the Ukrainian resources. It must be very clear to us, Europeans, that elections MUST take place AFTER the final stage. Not before it. Also because the final agreement cannot be the result of a pro-Russia candidate possibly elected under stage 2).”
Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that the U.S.’s proposed three-stage peace plan was the result of the peace talks between Russia and the U.S. in Saudi Arabia.
Keith Kellogg, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, told Reuters earlier this month that Ukrainian presidential and parliamentary elections, which were suspended during the war, “need to be done.”
On Monday, The Telegraph reported on a U.S. proposal to Ukraine after obtaining “a draft of the pre-decisional contract, marked ‘Privileged & Confidential.'”
The terms of the leaked draft contract said the U.S. and Ukraine should form a joint investment fund and that the U.S. would take a portion of recurring revenues received by Ukraine from extraction of resources, as well as some of the financial value of “all new licenses issued to third parties” for the future monetization of resources. Trump has pushed to strike an agreement with Ukraine for access to the equivalent of $500 billion worth of rare earth materials.
In the lead-up to the peace negotiations, Putin’s strategic goals included maintaining control of annexed territories, the lifting of Western sanctions and forcing Ukraine to abandon its NATO aspirations.
What People Are Saying
Gabrielius Landsbergis, the former foreign minister of Lithuania, wrote on X: “Putin is not on the ropes, he is on a roll, his dreams are being realized by his former enemies. NATO stayed out of Ukraine, believed the nuclear threats and allowed the shadow war to escalate. Trump can now add Ukrainian neutrality, elections and territories to the list.”
Illia Ponomarenko, a Ukrainian journalist, wrote on X: “We can talk all day, saying that even a meh peace deal would be okay for Ukraine. Even if Russia keeps the occupied regions and Ukraine formally stays out of NATO—Ukraine still survives, it can finally have some rest from war, have elections, continue with major reforms, reconstruct its economy, go on rearming its military with Western support, there will be peacekeepers etc etc etc. Of course, that’s true.
“However, I have just one little question: WHO SAID PUTIN IS GOING TO GIVE US THAT NOW, for Christ’s sake???!!!! You know, it’s not that those pesky Ukrainians are dumb and ‘don’t want peace.’ It’s that Putin leaving Ukraine alone in peace forever under even remotely acceptable terms exists only in some commentators’ imagination and clearly not in this galaxy.”
Lucian Kim, a senior Ukraine analyst for the nonprofit International Crisis Group, wrote in a series of X posts: “One scenario I can imagine is that Putin agrees to a temporary truce, negotiates a ‘peace deal’ with Trump, then demands Ukraine hold elections so a newly legitimized leader can sign it. On the surface, especially from far away, it would look totally reasonable. But in fact it would be a ploy to use elections as a way to exploit internal divisions within Ukraine and to interfere in the outcome. Putin would achieve 2 goals: dissolving Ukrainians’ cohesion and breaking external support. This should be obvious, but nothing is obvious anymore.”
What Happens Next
In a news release on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of State announced that Russia and the United States would appoint “respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides.”
