Donald Trump has intensified diplomatic efforts to broker a peace deal in Ukraine, dispatching his trusted special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow for crucial talks with Vladimir Putin, and US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to engage both Ukrainian and Russian delegations. These high-stakes negotiations are unfolding amidst concerns that Trump's proposed peace plan is unraveling, with a new 19-point agreement, reportedly accepted by Ukraine, facing stiff resistance from the Kremlin due to its less favorable terms.

The initial framework, a controversial 28-point peace plan drafted by the United States, outlined significant concessions from Ukraine. This original proposal included permanently ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine, capping its army at 600,000 personnel, and suggesting the transfer of the entire Donetsk region—including areas currently under Ukrainian control—to Russia as a demilitarized buffer zone. It also proposed recognizing Luhansk and Crimea as Russian territories, freezing current battle lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and mandating Kyiv to hold elections within 100 days. Notably, it initially included amnesty guarantees for wartime atrocities, which have since been dropped. A leaked recording revealed Steve Witkoff's private belief that land concessions, specifically Donetsk and possibly a territorial swap, would be essential for a peace agreement, a sentiment he conveyed to Putin's top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov.

However, this original plan has undergone substantial revisions, evolving into the 19-point deal. This refined agreement, incorporating input from both sides, has amended or shelved many of the initial contentious clauses. Crucially, the new terms grant Washington and Kyiv the final say on sensitive territorial disputes and include American security guarantees. Ukraine has agreed to cap its army at 800,000 personnel. Moreover, European allies, particularly the EU's E3 powers (Britain, France, and Germany), submitted their own modified version. Their proposal suggests capping Ukraine's military at 800,000 "in peacetime" rather than a blanket 600,000, and advocates for negotiations on territorial swaps to commence from the "Line of Contact" instead of pre-determining Russian control. The EU document also proposes a security guarantee for Ukraine from the United States, akin to NATO's Article 5 clause.

Despite Ukraine's acceptance of the 19-point deal, significant diplomatic hurdles remain. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that if the revised plan