The central issue of land will likely prove the most difficult problem to solve in any cease-fire negotiation.
The Trump administration is moving quickly to initiate a cease-fire and bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Following phone calls with his counterparts on Feb. 12, President Donald Trump announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were ready to come to the negotiating table to begin carving out an ultimate end to the conflict.
“I think President Putin wants peace, and President Zelenskyy wants peace, and I want peace,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I just want to see people stop being killed.”
Earlier in the week Trump sent Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy and hammer out an initial framework for continued U.S. security assistance as negotiations begin.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will likewise meet with Zelenskyy and his team on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14 to discuss Trump’s vision for peace and move towards formally starting negotiations to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
That process is still nascent, however, and many issues related to trade, diplomacy, security assistance, and territorial disputes will need to be agreed upon in the weeks and months ahead.
Here’s what we know so far about Trump’s plan for peace in Europe.
Ukraine Trades Rare Earths for Security Assistance
Trump has frequently criticized the amount of security assistance the United States has sent to Ukraine and suggested that the United States ought to receive economic benefits for its continued support.
Such a deal would be vital not only to Ukraine’s current defense but also to its ability to deter future Russian aggression after a cease-fire is called.
To that end, Zelenskyy and Bessent agreed to an initial framework that would allow the United States access to hundreds of billions of dollars of rare earth elements in Ukraine in exchange for continued security assistance.
Trump said that Zelenskyy had “essentially agreed” to give the United States access to some $500 billion worth of deposits of rare earths and critical minerals.
