Leaked Trump Administration Peace Framework Emerges Amid Kyiv Corruption Crisis

In the week leading up to November 20, 2025, reports surfaced detailing a 28-point peace framework allegedly drafted within the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump. This document, reportedly formulated following discussions in Miami in late October 2025, proposes substantial territorial and military concessions from Ukraine in exchange for security guarantees backed by the United States. Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev, who met with U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Vitkoff in Miami between October 24 and 26, conveyed a sense of optimism, stating that the Russian perspective had genuinely been heard.

The purported plan, drawing inspiration from Trump’s earlier 20-point proposal concerning Gaza, is structured around four main pillars: achieving peace in Ukraine, security guarantees, broader European security arrangements, and the future relationship dynamics between the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine. Key demands directed at Kyiv, according to insider sources, mandate recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and the Donbas region, alongside the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the remaining parts of Donetsk Oblast. Furthermore, the proposal calls for freezing the current front lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.

A significant military stipulation within the framework requires the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) to be reduced to 400,000 personnel. This figure contrasts sharply with the 880,000 personnel strength President Zelenskyy had cited for the AFU at the start of 2025. On the political front, the framework addresses cultural and religious matters, specifically calling for the establishment of Russian as an official language and ensuring protections for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

However, Kyiv reportedly deemed this proposal entirely unacceptable. The planned meeting between Envoy Vitkoff and President Zelenskyy, scheduled for November 19, 2025, in Turkey, was subsequently canceled. This cancellation is widely believed to stem from Ukraine having presented its own European-backed peace plan, one that Russia was certain to reject. Compounding these diplomatic tensions, Ukraine was simultaneously rocked in mid-November 2025 by the largest corruption scandal of the Zelenskyy presidency, centered on the alleged embezzlement of 100 million dollars from Energoatom, the state company responsible for over half the nation’s electricity supply.

The fallout from the Energoatom affair implicated several high-profile figures. Timour Mindich, a former business associate of President Zelenskyy, reportedly fled the country. Additionally, Ministers German Galushchenko and Svitlana Grishchuk were dismissed, with the Verkhovna Rada approving their resignations on November 19. Adding fuel to the fire, Semen Kryvonos, the Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), publicly alleged political interference in the investigation, citing attempts to surveil detectives via the Safe City system, suggesting deep-rooted obstruction.

Against this backdrop of domestic turmoil, shifts occurred within the American diplomatic corps. Keith Kellogg, the U.S. Special Envoy for Peace and a retired general known for his supportive stance toward Kyiv, announced his intention to step down in January 2026. Reports suggest Kellogg had friction with Stephen Vitkoff regarding the specifics of territorial exchanges outlined in the peace blueprint. Concurrently, on November 19, 2025, a high-level Pentagon delegation, led by U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, arrived in Kyiv to discuss avenues for conflict cessation. Sources indicate that the U.S. leveraged the escalating corruption scandal as a critical point of pressure when presenting the Trump-era peace framework. The situation remains fluid, with all eyes fixed on the decision President Zelenskyy must make regarding Washington’s terms while navigating intense internal political strife and external diplomatic maneuvering.