By :Sarah Shamim
Addressing the US Congress on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump announced that his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy had written to him, indicating he was ready for peace negotiations with Russia to end their war.
In a post on social media, Zelenskyy concurred with Trump and laid out the contours of a peace plan. This came days after a bust-up between the two leaders in the Oval Office, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Zelenskyy of being a warmonger unwilling to work towards a ceasefire with Russia, and claimed that he was not grateful enough for all the assistance that the US has provided to Ukraine during the war.
So what’s the latest exchange between Trump and Zelenskyy about? What is Ukraine’s new peace plan? Where does Europe stand on it – and could it work?
What did Trump and Zelenskyy say?
Trump said on Tuesday that he received a letter from Zelenskyy in which the Ukrainian president expressed readiness to approach the negotiating table for peace.
“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians,” Trump said in an address to Congress, referencing Zelenskyy’s letter.
Trump added that he had also heard from Russia and “received strong signals” that it was ready for peace.
“It’s time to stop this madness. It’s time to halt the killing. It’s time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars you have to talk to both sides,” Trump said. He did not go into specific detail about how he plans to end the war that has been grinding on since February 2022.
Also on Tuesday, Zelenskyy wrote an X post echoing what he wrote in his letter to Trump. “I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace,” the Ukrainian president started his post.
“Zelenskyy has attempted to speak the language of Trump-world by grovelling at the court of the king, instead of insisting on the reality-based engagement which had enraged Trump and Vance during the meeting,” Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera.
What is Zelenskyy’s new peace plan?
In his X post, Zelenskyy briefly described his proposal for peace. He wrote that “the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky – ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure – and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same.”
Zelenskyy added that Ukraine would “want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal”. Where does Europe stand on this proposal? Prior to the Ukraine security summit in London hosted on March 2 by United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron told Le Figaro newspaper about a step-by-step peace proposal that has similarities to what Zelenskyy has now pitched.
Source: aljazeera.com/
Friday, May 1, 2026
