U.S. denies pushing Russian ‘wish list’ as Ukraine plan

Washington insisted on Saturday (November 22, 2025) that its Ukraine proposal is indeed official U.S. policy, denying claims by a group of senators that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told them the document under discussion is just a Russian “wish list.”

The dispute over the 28-point plan — which cedes Ukrainian territory long sought by Moscow — threw an extraordinary element of confusion into efforts to negotiate an end to the war.

US President Donald Trump has pushed the plan, pressuring the Ukrainians to accept it within days. Negotiators will meet in Switzerland on Sunday.

However, after a storm of criticism that the proposal is almost entirely favorable to Moscow, several US senators spoke out, holding a press conference at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada on Saturday.

Also Read | Ukraine, U.S. to start talks in Switzerland on Trump’s plan to end war

The senators — Republican Mike Rounds, independent Angus King, and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen — said Mr. Rubio told them the current Ukraine proposal is not the official U.S. position, but instead lays out a “Russian wish list.”

“What he (Rubio) told us was that this was not the American proposal. This was a proposal that was received by someone… representing Russia in this proposal. It was given to Mr Witkoff,” Mr. Rounds said, referring to Mr. Trump’s diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff.

“It is not our recommendation. It is not our peace plan.”

Mr. King corroborated those comments, saying “the leaked 28-point plan — which, according to Secretary Rubio, is not the administration’s position — it is essentially the wish list of the Russians that is now being presented to the Europeans and to the Ukrainians.”

‘Blatantly false’

Mr. Rubio took to X to refute the senators’s claims via social media.

“The peace proposal was authored by the U.S.,” Mr. Rubio wrote late Saturday (November 22). “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”

Earlier, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott also denied the claims, sharing a post on X citing Mr. King’s comments.

“This is blatantly false,” Mr. Pigott posted. “As Secretary Rubio and the entire Administration has consistently maintained, this plan was authored by the United States, with input from both the Russians and Ukrainians.”

However, Shaheen said she and Mr Rounds spoke to Mr Rubio on a shared call while the top U.S. diplomat was en route to Geneva for the latest round of negotiations with Ukrainian officials.

Mr. Rounds said he and his colleagues had asked for a conversation with Mr. Rubio over their concerns with the plan.

In the call, Mr. fRubio was “very frank about it,” he said.

“It doesn’t look like normally something that would come out of our government, particularly the way it was written. It looked more like it was written in Russian to begin with,” Mr. Rounds said.

Mr. King noted that the plan should not reward Moscow for its invasion.

“Everyone wants this war to end but we want it to end on a fair and just peace that respects the integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine and does not reward aggression and also provides adequate security guarantees,” he said.