Zelensky warns Ukraine risks losing US support over White House peace plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Kiev risks losing US support over the White House’s plan for how to end the war with Russia.

Addressing the nation on Friday, Zelensky said Ukraine “may face a very difficult choice”: either lose its honor or risk losing an important partner, adding that “today is one of the most difficult moments in our history.”

The widely leaked US peace plan includes proposals that Kiev has previously rejected: giving up eastern territories it currently controls, significantly reducing its army size and pledging not to join NATO.

These provisions appear to be heavily tilted towards Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has said the plan could be a “basis” for a peace deal.

At a meeting with his security cabinet on Friday, Putin said Moscow had received the plan, which had not been discussed in detail with the Kremlin.

Later in the day, US President Donald Trump said Zelensky “must like” the plan or Ukraine and Russia would continue fighting.

Ukraine is heavily dependent on the delivery of advanced US-made weapons, including air defense systems to repel deadly Russian air strikes, as well as intelligence provided by Washington.

Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In a 10-minute speech in front of the presidential building in Kiev, Zelensky warned that Ukraine “will face a lot of pressure… to weaken us, to divide us” and said “the enemy is not sleeping.”

Urging Ukrainians to stay united, he stressed that the country’s “national interest must be taken into account”.

“We are not making loud statements,” he continued, “we will work calmly with America and all partners… we will present alternatives to the proposed peace plan.”

Zelensky also said that he was assured of continued support in his telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

After the speeches, İ. Starmer emphasized that “the principle that Ukraine should determine its future under its own sovereignty is a fundamental principle.”

Separately, Zelensky said he spoke for “almost an hour” with US Vice President J.D. Vance and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, adding that Ukraine “always respected” President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war.

In Washington, Trump warned that Ukraine would “shortly” lose more territory to Russia.

He said it was “appropriate” to give Ukraine until November 27 (Thanksgiving Day in the US) to accept the peace deal, but that deadlines could be extended if things were “going well”.

Speaking at the White House later Friday, the US president said “we think there is a way to achieve peace” and added that Zelensky “will have to approve it”.

Washington is pressuring Kiev to adopt the plan as soon as possible and sent senior Pentagon officials to the Ukrainian capital earlier this week.

President Putin on Thursday appeared determined to continue the war despite Russia’s heavy combat losses.

Wearing a military uniform, the Kremlin leader told army commanders, “We have tasks, we have goals.” “The most important thing is that the objectives of the special military operation are achieved unconditionally [full-scale war]”

The 28-point US peace plan comes as Russia faces an internal crisis where it claims small territorial gains in south-eastern Ukraine while Zelensky is embroiled in a $100m (£76m) corruption scandal with senior officials.

The White House retracted claims that Ukraine was excluded from the draft proposal following talks between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev.

An unnamed US official told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that the plan was prepared “immediately” following talks with Ukraine’s top security official, Rustem Umerov, who agreed to the majority of the plan.

Umerov is said to have made many changes before presenting it to Zelensky.

The leaked draft envisions Ukrainian troops withdrawing from the part of the eastern Donetsk region they currently control, giving Russia de facto control over Donetsk, as well as the neighboring Luhansk region and the southern Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

The plan also includes freezing the borders of Ukraine’s southern Kherson and Zaporizhia regions along existing battle lines. Both regions are partially occupied by Russia.

The US plan also limits Ukraine’s military to 600,000 personnel, and European warplanes are deployed to neighboring Poland.

The plan states that Kiev will receive “reliable security guarantees” but no details are given. The document states that it is “expected” that Russia will not invade its neighbors and that NATO will not expand further.

The draft also suggests that Russia will be “reintegrated into the global economy” by lifting sanctions and inviting Russia to rejoin the G7 group of the world’s most powerful countries, making it back into the G8.

Russian-occupied and non-Russian-occupied Ukrainians took a defiant stance in response to news of the U.S. offer.

In Kiev, the widow of a Ukrainian soldier told the BBC: “This is not a peace plan, it is a plan to continue the war.”

Another person speaking from one of the occupied regions in Ukraine told the BBC: “I’m trying to keep my sanity here while there is constant propaganda that Ukraine has forgotten us. I hope they don’t sign this.”

Russia currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, and Russia’s troops are making slow progress along the vast front line despite reported heavy losses.