Ukraine, US Relationship Tested As Trump Puts Zelenskiy on Deadline

Meghan O’Sullivan, deputy national security adviser in the Bush administration, said she doubted Ukraine and US European allies could agree to a peace plan negotiated between the US and Russia by deadline set by President Donald Trump.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine risks losing its key partner after the US threatened to cut off support unless Kyiv agrees to a peace deal that would force it to cede territory to Russia, cap the size of its military and pledge never to join NATO.

“Now it’s one of the most difficult moments in our history,” Zelenskiy said in a video address to the nation on Friday after he was presented with a 28-point peace plan drafted by the US and Russia. “Ukraine may face a hard choice — either the loss of our dignity or the loss of our key partner.”

Kyiv’s biggest European allies have lined up with Zelenskiy to push back against elements of the plan, which would force Ukraine to give up large chunks of territory taken by Russia, acceding to many of President Vladimir Putin’s wartime demands.

The US increased pressure on Zelenskiy to agree to the deal with a threat to stop intelligence-sharing and weapons supplies to Ukraine unless Kyiv agrees to the peace plan by next Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump, speaking Friday to Fox News Radio, said Ukraine is losing land and the US just wants “the killing to stop.” He declined to characterize the timeframe as a deadline and said the US had no plans to lift sanctions against Russia for now.

US officials are having early discussions on whether to let Nvidia Corp. sell its H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, according to people familiar with the matter, a contentious potential move that would mark a major win for the world’s most valuable company.

President Donald Trump’s team has held internal talks about H200 chip shipments to the Asian country in recent days, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss a highly sensitive matter. No final decision has been made, the people emphasized, and it’s entirely possible that the idea remains an internal debate and never results in actual license approvals, which are required under export controls that Washington first imposed in 2022.

Still, the fact that H200 shipments are being considered is a major departure from the Trump administration’s earlier public stances on semiconductor export controls. It also would represent a concession to Beijing that would almost certainly draw widespread opposition from China hawks in Washington.

Nvidia shares climbed to a session high on the news Friday. They gained as much as 2% to $184.29 following earlier declines.

In a statement, Nvidia said the current regulatory landscape doesn’t allow it to offer a competitive data center product in China, “leaving that massive market to our rapidly growing foreign competitors.”

“Our foreclosure from the China data center compute market has no impact on our ability to supply customers in the USA,” the Santa Clara, California-based company said.

Representatives from the White House and the Commerce Department, which regulates exports, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang has lobbied the Trump administration intensively for a reprieve from restrictions that the chipmaker says have forced it out of the world’s largest market for semiconductors. If realized, the H200 move would constitute a significant easing of US trade restrictions designed to curtail China’s prowess in artificial intelligence.

It also could fulfill a key ask from Beijing, which has repeatedly protested Washington’s curbs on both advanced chips and the tools used to make them.

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