What to Know About Trump’s Peace Plan for Russia and Ukraine

The Trump administration stunned much of the diplomatic world last week with a peace plan for Ukraine that was widely seen as a capitulation to most of the Kremlin’s demands.

Over the past few days, U.S. officials responded to the storm of criticism by insisting that their plan was still a work in progress. They said they had revised it to address more of Ukraine’s concerns, while acknowledging that doing so made it less likely that Russia would take the deal.

So is President Trump’s current push for peace destined to fizzle, as have his prior initiatives for ending the war? Or has it injected new momentum into the global effort to end Europe’s most violent fighting since World War II?

Here’s a look at the big picture around the Trump administration’s new peace plan.

Where did the latest peace effort originate?

Mr. Trump has been pushing to end the Ukraine war all year. As of last month — despite eight phone calls between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, five meetings between the White House envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian leader, and an in-person summit in Alaska — none of the administration’s efforts have come to fruition.

But after the Gaza peace talks produced an agreement in early October, the White House mounted one more effort.

Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, who was closely involved in the Gaza negotiations, joined Mr. Witkoff in proposing to the president that they try to build on their Middle East success by drafting a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, a White House official said.