Vance, Rubio, scramble to sell Trump’s half-formed Ukraine peace plan: ANALYSIS

As President Donald Trump looks to send talks to end the war in Ukraine into overdrive, his top Cabinet officials face the difficult task of persuading America’s European allies that the administration and Russia are approaching the negotiations in good faith.

Throughout the Biden administration, top officials and even the president himself repeated a common refrain: “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.” When it came to deciding when to resolve the conflict, there was little ambiguity: Kyiv was in the driver’s seat.

Trump dramatically changed that dynamic on Wednesday when he held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin where he said the two “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” Only then did Trump say he would call Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy “to inform him of the conversation.”

In the hours that followed, the president also repeatedly spoke favorably of Putin — challenging the global pariah status the previous administration sought to brand him with. Trump even said he wants to see Russia rejoin the G7, a club of elite democracies from which Moscow was expelled following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

“I think he wants peace. I think he would tell me if he didn’t. I think I’d like to see peace,” Trump said of Putin on Thursday.

Redrawing the end game

As Trump made waves in Washington, many of his top Cabinet officials toured Europe, visiting Munich for a security conference that has been dominated by discussions about supporting Ukraine’s resistance against Russia for the last several years and attending a defense ministerial at NATO headquarters in Belgium.

At times, the president and his men have seemed to be on different pages. His defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said on Wednesday that the war in Ukraine must end, but that membership in NATO must not be a security guarantee granted to Kyiv.Just a day later, Hegseth appeared to walk back his comments, asserting “everything is on the table” when it comes to Trump’s dealings with Putin and Zelenskyy.

But later on Thursday, Trump doubled down from the Oval Office.

“I don’t see any way that a country in Russia’s position could allow them, just in their position, could allow them to join NATO. I don’t see that happening,” the president said.

Hegseth has also indicated that, while the U.S. doesn’t want to see the war become a frozen conflict, maintaining Europe’s security shouldn’t be the responsibility of the U.S., adding that any peacekeeping forces shouldn’t be covered by NATO protections.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio touched down in Germany on Friday. Explaining the Trump administration’s strategy for ending the conflict to the U.S.’ European allies — and getting them on board — is likely to fall on his shoulders.

It’s shaping up to be a tall order.

“Ukraine’s voice must be at the heart of any talks,” British Defense Secretary John Healy said in the wake of Trump’s call with Putin.

“The Ukrainians are fighting bravely,” he continued. “It’s our job as defense ministers here at NATO to put them in the best possible position to secure a lasting peace through strength.”

“There can be no discussion about Europe’s and Ukraine’s security without Europe,” the chief spokesperson of the European Commission said in a statement.

The Trump administration will also have to work out many of the details for its vision.

During a news conference at the White House on Thursday, Trump was asked what Russia would have to concede.

“As far as the negotiation — it’s too early to say what is going to happen,” he responded. “Maybe Russia will give up a lot. Maybe they won’t.”

A dose of realism?

Vice President Vance and Rubio were also expected to meet with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday — an in person follow-up to the call Trump and the Ukrainian leader held earlier in the week.

Zelenskyy said in a post on X that during that conversation, the two discussed opportunities to achieve peace” and that Trump had “shared details of his conversation with Putin.”

“No one wants peace more than Ukraine,” he added.

Ukraine’s president may be more influenced by the realties in his home country that Trump’s rhetoric. Polls indicate that a majority of Ukrainians want to see a quick, negotiated end to the war.

On the frontlines of the war, Kyiv is also struggling amid an acute shortage of troops — and mobilizing younger Ukrainians to join the fight would be a deeply unpopular political move.

And on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte acknowledged that the alliance’s countries were not keeping pace with Moscow’s ammunition production — another blow for Kyiv.

“We are not producing enough, and this is a collective problem,” Secretary General Rutte said. “Russia is producing three months in ammunition what the whole of the alliance is producing in a year.”

Analysts broadly agree that West can’t continue arming Ukraine indefinitely and that regaining all of its territorially losses to Russia is unrealistic.

But many experts like Ivana Stradner, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, say the Trump administration also has to come to grips with the reality of Russia’s ambition — and that lasting peace depends on continued U.S. support for Ukraine after a truce.

Putin understands that Trump wants to be perceived as a “deal broker” who can, unlike his predecessor, create “peace through strength.” He is not, therefore, opposed to giving Trump the “gift” of freezing the conflict as a means of gaining his trust,” Stradner said.

“The Trump administration should continue to ensure a well-armed Ukraine capable of fending off Russia on the ground, making it too costly for Moscow to achieve its objectives,” she added.

ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Matt Seyler contributed to this report.