Washington tabled a proposed deal to end hostilities between Kiev and Moscow during a meeting in Paris on Thursday last week. A follow-up meeting took place in London on Wednesday, at which Ukrainian officials and their NATO European counterparts drafted counterproposal.

The London talks were downgraded at the last minute after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly rejected key American suggestions. He declared on Thursday that the European-backed “strategy” was now “on President Trump’s table.”

Having examined the drafts “in full and explicit detail” on Friday, Reuters identified four critical areas of disagreement.

The US is proposing Washington’s formal recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea — the former Ukrainian region that voted to join Russia following the 2014 Western-backed armed coup in Kiev — and a cessation of hostilities along the current frontline.

Kiev and its European backers are only willing to discuss territorial issues after a ceasefire has been established.

The US document offers a “robust security guarantee” for Ukraine from willing nations, according to Reuters. The Euro-proposal rival proposal insists that no restrictions be placed on Ukraine’s military, including the deployment of foreign troops on its territory, and calls for the US to provide NATO-like protection to Ukraine.

Russia demands Ukraine remains neutral and insists that it will not accept any NATO troop presence, or troops from bloc members as part of a coalition, in the country.

Reuters reported that the US is advocating for the removal of restrictions imposed on Russia since 2014, while Kiev and the Europeans propose a “gradual easing of sanctions after a sustainable peace is achieved,” paired with a threat of snapback measures for non-compliance.

The US framework includes mentions of financial compensation for Ukraine, but lacks specifics. The Kiev-backed counterproposal identifies frozen Russian assets in Western countries as a source for such payments, according to Reuters. Russia has labeled the seizure of its funds illegal and views any use of these assets to support Ukraine as “theft.”

Crimea officially joined the Russian Federation in 2014 after a referendum that followed a Western-backed coup in Kiev. Ukraine and its backers have dismissed the results of the referendum as illegitimate, and Kiev has continued to claim sovereignty over the peninsula, vowing to take it back by any means necessary.

In an interview to mark his first 100 days in office, Trump said Crimea “went to the Russians” long ago and suggested that “everyone understands” that Ukraine will not be able to get it back.

“Crimea will stay with Russia” under a final settlement of the Ukraine conflict, Trump went on to say, adding that even Ukraine’s Volodymyrr Zelensky understands this.

“It’s been with them for a long time,” the US president stated, noting that Russia had its submarines there “long before any period that we’re talking about” and that the majority of Crimeans speak Russian.

Trump also stressed that the peninsula was “given” to Russia by former US President Barack Obama, claiming that the whole conflict is “Obama’s war,” which “should have never happened.”

Since returning to office in January, Trump has been pressuring both Moscow and Kiev to settle the conflict. During last year’s election campaign, he said he would end the hostilities “within 24 hours” of entering the White House. He told Time, however, that he said this “figuratively” as an “exaggeration.”

Recently, Trump has signaled that he has grown frustrated with the lack of progress on reaching a resolution of the Ukraine conflict. He has expressed dissatisfaction with Zelensky, saying he has found Russia much easier to negotiate with than the Ukrainian leader. In a Truth Social post this week, the US president criticized Zelensky for refusing to even consider any territorial concessions.

Russia has expressed its appreciation for Trump’s peace efforts and has repeatedly indicated that it is open to negotiations. However, Russian officials have stressed that a final peace deal must respect the territorial realities on the ground and address the root causes of the conflict, such as Ukraine’s NATO aspirations.

In his interview with Time, Trump acknowledged that Ukraine would likely never be able to join NATO. He cited Kiev’s ambitions to enter the US-led bloc as the issue that “caused the war to start.”

“If that weren’t brought up, there would have been a much better chance that [the conflict] wouldn’t have started,” he said.