As Wednesday got underway, many looked to peace talks that were scheduled to take place in London, as diplomats continued to work on a possible solution to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The negotiations were thrown into disarray, however, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff pulled out of the talks.

Around the same time, JD Vance sketched out his vision for ending the devastating conflict. When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the American vice president’s plan was a nonstarter, Donald Trump renewed his rhetorical attacks on his counterpart, accusing him of derailing negotiations to end the war.

All of these developments were quite notable, though let’s not miss the forest for the trees: More than three years into the most devastating war in Europe since World War II, the public is just now getting a sense of what the White House has in mind for a proposed resolution. And what, pray tell, has Team Trump put on the table? The New York Times reported:

President Trump and his top aides demanded on Wednesday that Ukraine accede to an American-designed proposal that would essentially grant Russia all the territory it has gained in the war, while offering Kyiv only vague security assurances. The American plan, which would also explicitly block Ukraine from ever joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was rejected by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. … The proposal also appears to call for the United States to recognize Russia’s 2014 takeover of Crimea, a region of Ukraine.

The “plan” (I’m using the word loosely) might as well have been crafted by the Kremlin. Indeed, one NATO official, when asked for a reaction to the plan, replied, “Did Putin write this for him?”

If implemented, Russia would get to keep the Ukrainian land it seized by force — an extraordinary reward for launching an unprovoked invasion on its neighbor — while Ukraine would be prohibited from joining NATO, further cementing one of Moscow’s principal goals.

Complicating matters, such a resolution would be at odds with American law: As a Politico report noted, in 2022, Congress barred any U.S. recognition of Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia.

The measure was written by a Republican senator from Florida named Marco Rubio — three years before he became Trump’s secretary of state.

If recent history is any guide, the White House will continue to suggest that Zelenskyy, by brushing away the Trump administration’s one-sided solution, is standing in the way of an agreement. But no one should be fooled, the American president and his team presented an offer that Ukraine had no choice but to refuse.

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California characterized the proposal as Trump’s latest “surrender to a murderous dictator,” adding, “More ‘peace in our time,’ from the Neville Chamberlain of our time.”