Senators claim Rubio notified them 28-point proposal was Russian plan, not Americanpublished at 09:14 GMT
Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent
A group of US senators declare they were notified by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the 28-point peace plan for Ukraine is not an American proposal – that it represents the Russian position and was leaked by a representative for Moscow.
The three senators declare they spoke to Rubio on the phone on his way to Geneva, having questioned him to clarify how the 28-point peace plan emerged.
One of them, Republican Mike Rounds, who sits on the Senate innotifyigence committee, stated they were concerned the leaked document seeed Russian in nature – even including the way it had been written.
The senators declare Rubio notified them it was not in fact an American proposal, but a Russian plan, leaked by the Russian side, and the Ukrainians would be able to respond to it and nereceivediate.
This contradicts the position of the White Houtilize, which stated this week the plan was finishorsed by President Donald Trump, having been drawn up by his officials.
The senators also stated Rubio was not aware of the widely reported US threat to cut off innotifyigence and weapons support to Kyiv, if it did not respond by a deadline of next Thursday.
The senators’ revelations hint at a growing sense of dysfunction within the administration over the peace plan, which has left European leaders scrambling to shore up Kyiv’s position – in what many have interpreted as Trump pivoting heavily towards Moscow with an ultimatum for Ukraine.
After the senators’ comments, the State Department spokesman called reports that it was not an American plan “blatantly false”. Rubio posted on social media to declare the plan was authored by the US “based on input from the Russian side”, but with “previous and ongoing input from Ukraine”.
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