The original 28-point plan for peace in Ukraine was drafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner after “secret meetings” with a Kremlin insider in Miami – and Secretary of State Marco Rubio only learned the “full scope” of the proposal once it was leaked, according to a report.
The plan, which has since been revised to 19 points, initially demanded Ukraine make heavy concessions – including giving up territory in the east, capping the size of its military and agreeing to never join NATO – while asking Russia to barely give up anything.
Witkoff and Kushner started working on the document in October, after Trump tasked administration officials with hatching a plan to end the bloodiest fighting in Europe since World War II in the wake of brokering a peace deal in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The pair held “secret meetings” and dinners in Miami with Kirill Dmitriev, a financier and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while working out the details of the peace plan, according to the outlet.
“They brought him to Miami the weekend before Halloween for what would be three days of intensive discussions over dinner and extended conversation at Witkoff’s home,” US officials and people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
Dmitriev demanded the controversial points on NATO membership and Ukrainian territorial concessions be included.
He also pushed for the Ukrainian troop cap and economic agreements between Washington and Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal noted that Witkoff, Kushner and Dmitriev had “similar views” on what the plan should look like.
The special envoy determined that the plan should be weighted more toward Moscow’s goals after concluding that Ukraine was in a weaker position than Russia, through discussions with US and foreign officials and reading intelligence reports.
The plan, with terms favorable for Moscow, shocked supporters of the Ukrainian war effort, including congressional lawmakers, when it leaked last week.
US officials, however, argued that it reflected “a good-faith attempt by Witkoff and Kushner to gain the support” of Putin without completely abandoning Ukraine.
Witkoff and Kushner held at least two phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as they drafted the document, officials said.
Ukraine’s national security adviser, Rustem Umerov, was also invited to Miami and “bluntly” told Witkoff and Kushner that the plan was better for Moscow than Kyiv.
The majority of the provision had been crafted prior to the meetings with the Ukrainian and Russian envoys, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke with concerned lawmakers and flew to Geneva over the weekend to make changes to the blueprint, was aware of the Witkoff-Kushner effort but didn’t know “the full scope” of the draft plan until Nov. 18 – the same day Axios reported that the Trump administration was “secretly drafting new plan to end Ukraine war.”
Rubio was reportedly handed a copy of the plan at the White House, during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington last week.
The latest version of the peace plan has been trimmed down to 19 points and is more palatable to Kyiv.
The controversial planks forcing Ukraine to give up territory in the Donbas and abandon its NATO membership ambitions have been removed, The Post previously reported.
On Sunday, Rubio referred to the initial proposal as a “living, breathing document” that has “evolved.”
The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
