The US state department on Saturday rejected claims that its 28-point plan to end the Ukraine war was a “Russian wish list.” The denial came after a group of senators said they were told by secretary of state Marco Rubio that President Donald Trump was pushing a plan shaped by Moscow.State department spokesman Tommy Pigott said on X that the allegation was “blatantly false,” adding that the plan was written by the United States with inputs from both Russia and Ukraine.
Pigott was responding to Republican senator Mike Rounds’ claim that secretary of state Rubio told him the document was a proposal passed on to a US representative, not a plan drafted by the US, reported News Hour. Rounds reportedly said that the plan was shared as an intermediary and later leaked, not released by lawmakers. According to Rounds, the proposal was handed over by someone claiming to represent Russia and delivered to Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East.Senator Angus King also said the leaked document appeared to reflect Russian demands, not the administration’s position. “The leaked 28-point plan, which, according to secretary Rubio, is not of the administration’s position–it is essentially the wish list of the Russians,” he said.Earlier, CBS News reported that Western leaders were concerned because the proposal contained several Russian conditions and provided only limited assurances regarding Ukraine’s sovereignty and security.The plan has triggered concern in Kyiv and across Europe. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country now faced a difficult choice between protecting its sovereign rights and maintaining crucial American support.President Trump has asked Zelenskyy to respond to the plan by Thursday, with the possibility of an extension. He told reporters that the proposal was not his final offer and repeated his view that the war should never have happened.On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Moscow had received the text of the 28-point plan through its usual communication channels with Washington. Ukrainian officials will meet a US delegation in Switzerland to discuss the plan.
