A group of US senators said Secretary of State Marco Rubio told them that a proposed peace plan for Ukraine is a Russian "wish list," not an official Washington plan.
Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, a group of lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties called the 28-point proposal a reward for Russian aggression.
The senators said Rubio made clear that the US had only been a recipient of the proposal, which was handed to a US mediator.
"This is a Russian proposal," Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, said. "There is so much in that plan that is totally unacceptable."
Republican Senator Mike Rounds said the Trump administration "was not responsible for this release in its current form." Rounds added that officials "want to utilize it as a starting point."
According to reports, the proposal, drafted without Ukraine's input, would force Kyiv to surrender large areas of territory, limit the size of its armed forces and bar it from joining NATO.
Independent Senator Angus King compared the plan to the failed appeasement of Hitler in 1938.
The State Department, however, insisted Saturday that the "plan was authored by the United States."
On Friday, Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has until Thursday to approve the plan.
"He'll have to like it, and if he doesn't like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess," Trump said. "At some point he's going to have to accept something he hasn't accepted."
Zelenskyy, in an address, did not reject the plan outright but insisted on fair treatment while pledging to "work calmly" with Washington and other partners in what he called "truly one of the most difficult moments in our history."
On Saturday, Trump said the proposal was not his final offer.
Rubio insists Trump-backed plan was authored by the United States
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is pushing back against claims that its 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine is a Kremlin wish list.
A group of senators said they were told by Rubio that the plan came from Russia.
But he insists the "peace proposal was authored by the US," in a post on X.
"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," he wrote.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott also said the senators' remarks were "blatantly false" in a post on X.
"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," he wrote.
Key points of peace plan presents hard choices for Ukraine
The US-backed peace plan for ending the war in Ukraine gives Russia much of what it wants. But it also contains some challenges for Moscow:
Territorial
The plan affirms Ukrainian sovereignty but recognizes Crimea and the Luhansk and Donetsk regions as de facto Russian territory. Ukraine would withdraw from areas it still controls in those regions.
Borders in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia would freeze along current front lines, creating a neutral buffer zone.
Russia would relinquish other occupied areas outside these five regions, possibly in Sumy and Kharkiv; details on this remain unclear.
Russian forces must leave parts of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.
Zaporizhzhia's nuclear plant would restart, with power shared equally between Russia and Ukraine.
Security guarantees
The proposal calls for Ukraine to abandon its plan to join NATO.
The defensive alliance would be prohibited from being stationed in Ukraine.
NATO itself would have to commit to no further expansion.
Ukraine would also be forced to cap its military at 600,000 troops. Russia has previously demanded that Ukraine's army be cut to below 100,000 troops.
Russia must commit not to invade neighboring countries.
War crimes
Kyiv would have to drop plans to pursue any legal cases seeking to prove that Moscow committed war crimes.
The plan, without referencing Ukraine, says "all Nazi ideology or activity should be renounced or forbidden."
Frozen Russian funds
Russia would agree that $100 billion of assets frozen by Western governments be invested in rebuilding Ukraine.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine would have full control over spending the frozen funds.
Ukraine cannot seek war reparations.
Russia would be able to rejoin the G8, and sanctions against it would be gradually lifted.
Elections in Ukraine
Ukraine would also be required to hold elections within 100 days.
