Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky moved quickly on Sunday to ease fresh tensions with Washington, offering a public note of gratitude to President Donald Trump after the U.S. leader sharply criticized Kyiv in the middle of high-stakes talks in Geneva aimed at ending the war with Russia.
Trump, whose position on Ukraine has swung repeatedly during his second term, lashed out earlier on his Truth Social platform, saying Ukrainian officials had shown “ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS.” He was referring to his proposed plan to end the nearly four-year conflict — a plan that, in its earliest form, echoed several of Moscow’s long-standing demands.
Hours later, Zelensky posted on X: “Ukraine is grateful to the United States, to every American heart, and personally to President Trump for the assistance that — starting with the Javelins — has been saving Ukrainian lives.” The message appeared aimed at cooling tensions as negotiators in Geneva worked to salvage momentum.
In Switzerland, U.S. and Ukrainian officials were editing a 28-point draft proposal that Kyiv insists must reflect its core interests. Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s chief negotiator and security council secretary, said the newest version “already reflects most of Ukraine’s key priorities,” even as it remained under review.
The first draft presented by U.S. officials reportedly included concessions that Ukraine had long rejected: giving up occupied territory, reducing its military capacity, and pledging permanent neutrality outside NATO. The plan did outline future security assurances and proposed using frozen Russian assets for reconstruction, but the language was vague.
Trump has pushed for a rapid resolution and set a November 27 deadline — Thanksgiving in the United States — for Ukraine to accept the terms, though he has hinted that the timeline may shift.
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Since returning to the Oval Office, Trump’s stance on the war has veered dramatically. The president who once praised Vladimir Putin and dismissed Zelensky as a “dictator” has, at other moments, imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow and suggested Ukraine could reclaim its land. He has also repeated his claim that he could end the conflict “in 24 hours,” a promise critics say oversimplifies the complexity of the war.
As negotiators press on, Kyiv finds itself balancing gratitude with resolve — navigating an American partner whose support remains indispensable but unpredictable, and a peace process that is still fraught with unanswered questions.
