A Backroom Peace Plan – and Now the White House Confirms the Joint US–Russia Architecture

The truth had been on the table for weeks, yet the White House did everything it could to downplay it. Now the very spokeswoman who normally controls every word has said the decisive sentence – and in doing so confirmed our reporting that many had considered too sensitive. Karoline Leavitt told the cameras that Rubio, who should finally commit to a final version, and Witkoff had been able to go through the “28-point plan of the United States – with contributions from both the Russian side and the Ukrainian side” while in Geneva. A slip that was no slip. A moment that tears down the facade. And an involuntary admission that the peace draft, which asks Ukraine to surrender what it cannot lose, did not originate in Washington alone but in direct coordination with Moscow.

All this confirms the research we began in October – specifically on October 16, the day the fees for processing the immigration status of Ukrainian refugees were abruptly raised by 1,000 dollars per person, in addition to the previous costs of 580 to 630 dollars. Since then, nearly 200,000 people in the United States have been pushed into a situation that grows more severe by the week. After all, not even 2,000 applications have been processed at all. The cases are piling up on our desks, and it is increasingly clear that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding that no one is prepared to manage. The justification for the fee hike made us pause: “An expected improvement of the situation in Ukraine.”

Many of these people arrived through humanitarian programs, work, pay taxes, enrolled their children in American schools and tried to build a life. Now they are finding that their immigration status is slipping – not because of anything they did, but because of political decisions that made them vulnerable overnight. Work permits expire, renewals stall for months or are rejected without explanation. Legal aid organizations report people who have been thrown, through no fault of their own, into a limbo that calls everything into question: their jobs, their housing, the safety of their children.

Leavitt: Yesterday, Rubio and Witkoff were in Geneva, and they were able to go through the 28-point peace plan that the United States presented – with contributions from both the Russian side and the Ukrainian side. They were really able to fine-tune the points. Now there are just a few points our teams continue to negotiate. (November 24, 2025)

This statement fits seamlessly into the picture we have been piecing together for weeks. Back in March, Steven Witkoff spoke surprisingly openly in Tucker Carlson’s show about his encounters with Putin. Carlson asked him: “What do you think of Putin?” – and Witkoff replied: “I liked him. I thought he was open with me… I don’t regard him as a bad person.” At the time, it sounded like a throwaway remark. Today, it marks a turning point. Because now it is clear: A man who publicly defended Putin and has no foreign policy experience was in Geneva working on exactly those texts Europe has been debating for days. While Moscow pretends it never officially received the revised draft, the Kremlin is playing its usual game: it decides itself when a document counts as a basis. But Putin had already spoken about the very points that later appeared in the 28-point package. This too matches what we had uncovered: Russia was not an observer but a co-author.

That Witkoff was part of the delegation at all remains one of the major political mysteries of these days. Neither American mainstream media nor conservative networks are asking this question. That it is Leavitt’s wording that now confirms our reporting shows how far reality has outpaced the public narrative. The administration allowed a real estate developer and close Trump associate to sit at negotiation tables where borders, security guarantees and territorial concessions were discussed – without mandate, without experience, without democratic oversight.

Leavitt’s further comments made clear how far along this plan already is. She spoke of “only a few remaining points of dispute.” Which means, plainly: Most of the package was already pre-negotiated between Washington and Moscow. Ukraine is allowed to adjust details, nothing more. And all this under the pressure of a president who accused Zelensky this weekend of showing “zero gratitude.” Leavitt also said Trump was a “peacetime president” and that the United States “cannot deliver weapons forever.” Taken together, this sounds like an ultimatum: either Kyiv accepts the plan or Washington turns off the tap. That this pressure is now tied to a plan clearly aligned with Russia’s preferences is no accident but strategy.

It is now definitive: The 28-point plan is not an independent proposal from the West. It is a draft crafted jointly by two presidents – over the head of Ukraine. And the spokeswoman of the White House has delivered the sentence that makes this truth visible. For Europe, this marks a rupture. For Ukraine, it means its future was negotiated in talks where it had only marginal influence. And for the public, it means that what had circulated only in the shadows is now out in the open: The United States and Russia built this plan together.

That Witkoff found Putin “open” and “not a bad person” was never just a personal view. It was a window into the political environment that enabled this peace plan. And it explains why a single sentence from Karoline Leavitt is enough to reorder the entire picture – and to confirm what our reporting has made clear for days: This peace draft carries two signatures. And neither of them comes from Kyiv.