Marco Rubio fires back after senators claim US didn't author leaked 28-point Ukraine peace plan

WASHINGTON, DC: Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on Saturday, November 22, against accusations by a handful of senators that the 28-point proposal for peace in Ukraine that surfaced this week was not President Donald Trump's plan.

The crew of enators was not exactly thrilled with Trump’s push to get Kyiv to sign on the dotted line. According to them, Rubio supposedly told them the plan was basically a Kremlin “wish list" and not America’s blueprint for ending the war.

Rubio wasn’t having any of it. “The peace proposal was authored by the US. It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter). “It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.” 

What’s actually in the 28-point Ukraine peace plan?

The controversial proposal was allegedly cooked up by the Donald Trump administration and the Kremlin without Ukraine at the table. The deal gives major concessions to Russia, including ceding big chunks of Ukrainian territory, something President Volodymyr Zelensky has “categorically rejected” in the past.

Trump has said he wants Ukraine to accept the plan by late next week.

But senators at an international security conference in Halifax warned the plan “would only reward Moscow for its aggression” and practically roll out a red carpet for future bad-actor neighbors around the world.

The pushback mostly came from a bipartisan trio with absolutely nothing to lose, including a Democrat, an Independent, and a Republican who’s not running for reelection. 

Senators raise hell

Independent Sen Angus King said, “It rewards aggression. This is pure and simple. There's no ethical, legal, moral, political justification for Russia claiming eastern Ukraine." King compared the leaked deal to Neville Chamberlain’s infamous 1938 Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler. 

King and Democratic Sen Jeanne Shaheen claim that after speaking directly with Rubio, they were told the plan “was not the administration’s plan” but a “wish list of the Russians.”

Shaheen said Rubio’s now heading to Geneva for talks with Europeans and Ukrainians and that he personally reached out to her and Republican Mike Rounds. “This is a Russian proposal,” she said. “…There is so much in that plan that is totally unacceptable.”

Rounds agreed, “I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives. It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.” He added, “This administration was not responsible for this release in its current form. They want to utilize it as a starting point.”

He said the plan “looked more like it was written in Russian to begin with.”

State Department pushes back, Putin and Zelensky respond

However, the State Department denied the allegations. “This is blatantly false,” spokesperson Tommy Pigott blasted on social media. “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.”

A senior official echoed the same line to CBS News. “This plan was authored by the United States, with input from both the Russians and Ukrainians. This plan has always been a hopeful start to continued negotiations, and eventually the signing of a final peace agreement once and for all," they told the outlet.

Naturally, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the plan a thumbs-up on Friday, calling it something that “could form the basis of a final peace settlement” if the US can get Ukraine and Europe to play along. 

Zelensky, meanwhile, didn’t outright torch the document. In an address, he pledged to “work calmly” with Washington and its partners, while reminding the world they’re living through “truly one of the most difficult moments in our history.”