US media: Ukrainian Soldiers Decry US Peace Plan as 'Surrender,' Fear Concessions in Donbas

Tehran - BORNA - While Ukrainian officials scramble to make changes to the 28-point plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, NBC News interviewed Ukrainian soldiers who expressed deep dissatisfaction with the proposal.

"This is not a plan. This is a real surrender. There is nothing to discuss here," said Rzhavsky, a senior sergeant serving near Pokrovsk.

The 44-year-old senior official added, "I object to giving up parts of the Donetsk region that we still hold." Rzhavsky, who commands a drone unit, said in a phone call, "Of course, for me, this is a painful issue because all of this is happening in my homeland."

The Risk of Unilateral Concessions

Mykola Bielieskov, a military analyst and researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, acknowledged Ukraine's "difficult" situation but stressed it is not yet "critical."

He said, "The situation is difficult for Ukraine, but it is not critical, and its defense lines are not collapsing, despite dire warnings from the United States."

Bielieskov warned against the implications of the plan: "When we make unilateral concessions and withdraw from the Donetsk region, the situation will become much worse, while Russia maintains its potential and can then threaten neighboring areas."

In one of those areas, "Oleksandr," a lieutenant in the Ukrainian Special Forces fighting in the South, said that he and his fellow soldiers are closely following the developments surrounding the peace plan. Oleksandr, who did not want his last name revealed due to the nature of his service, rejected many of the plan's key points in voice messages sent via WhatsApp.

Referring to the proposed limit of 600,000 troops for the Ukrainian army, the 43-year-old said: "No one will compromise on the size of the army because this is our security guarantee." He asserted, "Ukraine should not rush into a peace agreement that means capitulation."

Negotiations and Next Steps

The United States previously proposed the 28-point plan to resolve the war, a suggestion that caused dissatisfaction among some Ukrainian and European officials, who pushed for significant amendments.

On November 23, the US and Ukraine held consultations in Geneva. According to Ukrainian media, the delegations present agreed on most of Washington's proposed plan, but several key points were reportedly left for discussion in a future meeting between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the date of which has not yet been set.

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