The freezing of U.S. military aid in the spring led Kyiv to agree to territorial concessions

After freezing military aid to Kyiv in early March, U.S. President Donald Trump’s team for the first time secured Ukraine’s agreement to territorial concessions in order to end the war.

This is reported by The New York Times in a major piece on behind-the-scenes U.S.–Ukrainian relations.

According to the newspaper, on March 11 in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio placed a large map of Ukraine on the table in front of the Ukrainian delegation, showing the front line, and said: “I want to understand what your absolutely non-negotiable red lines are. What exactly do you need in order to survive as a state?”

Trump’s then-adviser Michael Waltz handed Defense Minister Rustem Umerov a dark blue marker and said: “Start drawing.”

Umerov traced Ukraine’s northern border with Russia and Belarus, then drew along the line of contact through the Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. He circled the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and said the Russians could not ensure its normal operation, creating a risk of a nuclear catastrophe, and that Ukraine therefore wanted the plant back. He also pointed to the Kinburn Spit, saying that restoring control over it would allow ships to access the shipyards in Mykolaiv.

For the previous three years of the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had repeatedly said Ukraine would fight until it regained all its territories. As one U.S. official told the paper, this was a turning point: “For the first time, Zelensky, through his people, said: for the sake of peace I’m ready to give up 20% of my country.”

Trump’s advisers reportedly told one another that the Ukrainians were now “trapped.”

Later that same day, Trump ordered aid to be resumed, and his advisers developed the parameters of an agreement.

Rubio also told the Ukrainians at the time that the United States intended to recognize Russian jurisdiction over the seized territories, but added that Washington would not demand the same from Kyiv and the Europeans.

“We will be the only ones who do it,” Rubio said in March.

The New York Times also writes that during the first talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in February, Rubio quoted The Godfather to lighten the mood. The American mimicked mafia boss Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando, quoting a scene in which Vito warns his son about threats from rival crime families: “I spent my whole life trying not to be careless. Women and children can be careless, but not men.” Rubio said nuclear powers must stay in contact. In response, the “usually grim” Lavrov smiled.

The article also mentions Trump’s relationship with his national security adviser Keith Kellogg. According to the paper, the White House chief once called him an idiot because of his support for Zelensky. Sources told the Times that Kellogg did not get along from the outset with other members of the administration. He told Europeans he was “holding the line against those isolationists in the administration.” He also publicly called Zelensky “a fighting and courageous leader of a country at war.”

Later Trump asked him: “So you’re calling Zelensky a man in a tough spot—and brave?”

“Yes, sir,” Kellogg replied. “There is a struggle for his country’s survival on Ukrainian soil. When was the last time an American president faced something like that? It was Abraham Lincoln.”

Later, recounting the episode to other advisers, Trump grumbled: “He’s an idiot.”

Putin, meanwhile, liked Trump’s envoy Steven Witkoff, who later went on to lead the peace talks on Ukraine.

Recall that in March the United States not only halted aid deliveries to Kyiv but also froze intelligence sharing.