Zelensky to speak with Trump after US proposes Russia-Ukraine peace plan
Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with Donald Trump after the US presented Ukraine with a draft peace plan to end the war with Russia.
The plan was reportedly prepared by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev without Ukraine’s participation.
Zelensky’s office said in a statement that the United States believed the draft plan “could help revitalize diplomacy,” adding that Ukraine “has agreed to work on the plan’s provisions to bring a just end to the war.”
The statement said Kiev supports “all important proposals that can bring true peace closer.”
According to sources cited by Axios, Financial Times and Reuters, the offer includes plans for Kiev to give up the Donbas regions it still controls in eastern Ukraine, significantly reduce the size of its army and give up many of its weapons, although the Ukrainians have not shared any details about what the offer includes.
If approved, these demands would be directed predominantly at Moscow’s interests, which explains Kiev’s lukewarm reaction to the draft.
The White House said Trump was angry at both Russia and Ukraine “for their refusal to make a peace agreement” and that his team was working on a “detailed and acceptable” peace plan.
However, Moscow downplayed the importance of the plan, which is said to include 28 items.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that although there were “contacts” with the US, there was no process that could be called “consultation”.
The statement from Zelensky’s office followed a meeting in Kiev on Thursday between the Ukrainian President and senior US military figures, including US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Randy George and Gen. Chris Donahue, the top US commander in Europe.
Despite Kiev’s lukewarm reaction to the draft, Zelensky said he “appreciates the efforts of President Trump and his team to bring security back to Europe”; this was perhaps a way to keep the US president together despite his administration’s apparent soft approach towards Russia.
Neither Ukraine nor its European partners were involved in drafting the new plan, and European foreign ministers on Thursday warned against making proposals without consulting Kiev or Brussels.
“For any plan to work, Ukrainians and Europeans must also participate,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
A senior US official told the BBC that special envoy Steve Witkoff had received information from both the Ukrainians and the Russians “on what terms would be acceptable to end the war”.
“Both sides, not just Ukraine, will have to make concessions,” the official said.
Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, warned that any peace deal must address the “root causes of the conflict” – a phrase Moscow uses as shorthand for a set of maximalist demands that are tantamount to surrender for Ukraine.
Ukrainian MP Lisa Yasko told the BBC that Ukraine “was not consulted”.
“It seems like someone wants to decide for us,” he said. “And this is very painful for most of us Ukrainians.”
Since starting his second term earlier this year, Trump has made several initiatives aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, including a bilateral summit with Putin in Alaska, several visits to Moscow by his envoy Witkoff, and meetings with Zelensky and other Western leaders.
But as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, the two sides remain deeply at odds over how to end the conflict.
While Ukraine has become adept at targeting Russia’s military infrastructure and energy facilities with long-range drones, Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian targets continue unabated.
Earlier this week, at least 26 people were involved in an attack with Russian missiles and drones on apartment blocks in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. Many people were still missing in the area on Thursday.
