President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has received a draft of a U.S.-supported plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and expects to speak with President Donald Trump in the coming days, his office said Thursday.
Two sources told Reuters that Washington has signaled to Kyiv that it must accept the U.S.-drafted framework, which includes territorial concessions and limits on Ukraine’s armed forces.
European governments pushed back Thursday, warning that the terms – requiring Ukraine to give up more land and partially disarm – would amount to capitulation.
“We are ready now, as before, to work constructively with the American side, as well as with our partners in Europe and around the world, so that the outcome is peace,” Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement on Telegram. It added that his talks with Trump will cover “key points required to achieve peace.”
Zelenskyy and Trump clashed publicly during a tense meeting at the White House in March, though a subsequent visit this summer proceeded more smoothly. The renewed U.S. push comes as Ukrainian forces face intensified pressure on the battlefield and Zelenskyy’s government is shaken by a corruption scandal that led parliament to dismiss two cabinet ministers Wednesday.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, downplayed any new U.S. initiative. “Consultations are not currently under way,” Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “There are contacts, of course, but there is no process that could be called consultations.” He said Russia’s stance remains unchanged from the position President Vladimir Putin laid out at an August summit with Trump, insisting that any peace deal must address what Moscow calls the “root causes of the conflict.”
With winter approaching, Russian troops occupy nearly one-fifth of Ukraine and are close to capturing Pokrovsk, a devastated eastern railway hub. Video released Thursday by Russia’s Defense Ministry showed Russian forces moving through southern parts of the city along charred apartment blocks.
European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels declined to discuss the U.S. plan in detail but stressed they would not back a settlement that forces Kyiv into punitive concessions.
“Ukrainians want peace – a just peace that respects sovereignty, a durable peace that cannot be called into question by future aggression,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said. “But peace cannot be a capitulation.”
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff emphasized the need for “close coordination with Germany and our European partners” during a call Thursday.
The White House has not commented on the reported draft. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that Washington would continue developing “potential ideas for ending this war” based on input from both sides, adding that “a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions.”
A U.S. Army delegation led by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff Randy George was in Kyiv and expected to meet Zelenskyy late Thursday.
The delegation met Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, on Wednesday.
Syrskyi said the best path to a just peace is to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses, expand its ability to strike deep into Russia and stabilize the front.
