Speaking to reporters at the White House in the presence of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Trump was asked if he had spoken with the Ukrainian president about his plan to end the war.
"We have a plan. It's terrible what's happening. It's a war that should never have happened. We think we have a way to make peace. He's going to have to approve it," Mr. Trump said.
The US president was then asked about the criticism he received for the 28-point plan. Mr. Trump responded:
"Are you saying he (Zelensky) doesn't like it? He's going to have to like it, and if he doesn't like it, then they should just keep fighting, I guess. At some point, he's going to have to accept something. You remember in the Oval Office, not too long ago, I said, 'You have no tickets.'"I inherited this war. I thought he should have made a deal a year ago, two years ago," Mr. Trump added.
The widely leaked plan includes proposals that Kiev has previously ruled out, including ceding areas of the eastern Donetsk region still controlled by Russia, reducing the size of the army to 600,000 troops and pledging not to join NATO.
It also includes a US guarantee that if Russia invades Ukraine again, it will trigger a"decisive coordinated military response" and reimpose sanctions on Moscow.
