WASHINGTON, Nov 22, (AP): With his new 28-point plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump is resurfacing his argument that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn't "have the cards” to continue on the battlefield and must come to a settlement that heavily tilts in Moscow's favor. Trump, who has demonstrated low regard for Zelenskyy dating back to his first term, said Friday he expects the Ukrainian leader to respond to his administration's new plan to end the war by next Thursday.

"We think we have a way of getting peace,” Trump told reporters in an Oval Office appearance. "He’s going to have to approve it.” Buffeted by a corruption scandal in his government, battlefield setbacks and another difficult winter looming as Russia continues to bombard Ukraine's energy grid, Zelenskyy says Ukraine is now facing perhaps the most difficult choice in its history.

Zelenskyy has not spoken with Trump since the plan became public this week, but has said he expects to talk to the Republican president in coming days. It's likely to be another in a series of tough conversations the two leaders have had over the years. The first time they spoke, in 2019, Trump tried to pressure the then newly minted Ukrainian leader to dig up dirt on Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.

That phone call sparked Trump's first impeachment. Trump made Biden's support for Ukraine a central issue in his successful 2024 campaign, saying the conflict had cost US taxpayers too much money and vowing he would quickly bring the war to an end. Then early this year in a disastrous Oval Office meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance tore into Zelenskyy for what they said was insufficient gratitude for the more than $180 billion the US had appropriated for military aid and other assistance to Kyiv since the start of the war.

That episode led to a temporary suspension of US assistance to Ukraine. And now with the new proposal, Trump is pressing Zelenskyy to agree to concessions of land to Moscow, a massive reduction in the size of Ukraine’s army, and agreement from Europe to assert that Ukraine will never be admitted into the NATO military alliance.

"Now Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice: either loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner,” Zelenskyy said in a video address Friday. At the center of Trump's plan is the call on Ukraine to concede the entirety of its eastern Donbas region, even though a vast swath of that land remains in Ukrainian control.