US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted that a proposed 28-point plan to end the Ukraine war, which has been widely viewed as favourable to Russia, was “authored by the US”.It comes after a group of senators said they had been told by Rubio that the draft – which one said he described as a Russian “wish list” – did not reflect Washington’s position.Rubio later distanced himself from those claims and said the plan came from the US, and was “based on input” from both Russia and Ukraine.His intervention came as he flew to Geneva in Switzerland for talks with Ukrainian and European security officials on the plan, which US President Donald Trump has called for Kyiv to agree to swiftly.Ukraine’s allies in Europe have pushed back on major provisions in the draft, which has not been made public but details of which have been widely leaked.It includes Ukraine agreeing to withdraw troops from eastern areas which Russia has been unable to take by force, and to limit the size of its armed forces.On Saturday, Republican Senator Mike Rounds said Rubio had told a group of lawmakers that the draft plan was not US policy.He told the Halifax Security Forum: “What [Rubio] told us was that this was not the American proposal.”Rounds said he had been assured that the plan was presented to Steve Witkoff, who acts as Trump’s overseas diplomatic envoy, by “someone… representing Russia”. The senator continued: “It is not our recommendation. It is not our peace plan.”Shortly after, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Rounds’s account of his conversation with Rubio was “blatantly false”.He wrote on X: “As Secretary Rubio and the entire administration has consistently maintained, this plan was authored by the United States, with input from both the Russians and Ukrainians.”Rubio then posted on social media himself, …
