Zelensky to speak to Trump after US proposes Russia-Ukraine peace plan

Volodymyr Zelensky will speak to Donald Trump after the US presented Ukraine with a draft peace plan to end the war with Russia.

The plan was reportedly drafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev, without Ukraine’s involvement.

In a statement, Zelensky’s office said the US believed the draft plan could “help reinvigorate diplomacy” and added that Ukraine had “agreed to work on the plan’s provisions in a way that would bring about a just end to the war”.

Kyiv supported “all substantive proposals capable of bringing genuine peace closer,” the statement said.

The Ukrainians did not share any details of what the proposal entails, although according to sources quoted by Axios, the Financial Times and Reuters, it includes plans for Kyiv to give up areas of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine that it still controls, to cut significantly the size of its army, and to forego many of its weapons.

If confirmed, these demands would be heavily slanted towards Moscow’s interest – explaining Kyiv’s lukewarm reaction to the draft.

But in a press briefing for reporters at the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected suggestions the plan demands major concessions from Ukraine.

She said Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been “engaging both sides equally to understand what these countries would commit to”.

“It’s a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine,” she said, without providing further details. “We believe that it should be acceptable to both sides. And we’re working very hard to get it done.”

Moscow downplayed the significance of the plan, which is rumoured to include 28 points.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that while there had been “contacts” with the US there was “no process that could be called ‘consultations'”.

The statement from Zelensky’s office came after a meeting in Kyiv on Thursday between the Ukrainian president and senior US military figures, including US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, army chief of staff Gen Randy George and top US army commander in Europe Gen Chris Donahue.

Despite Kyiv’s tepid reaction to the draft, Zelensky said he “appreciated the efforts of President Trump and his team to return security to Europe” – perhaps a way to keep the US president onside despite his administration’s apparent soft approach to Russia.

In his nightly address on Thursday, Zelensky said Ukraine needs a “worthy peace,” and that the “dignity of the Ukrainian people” must be respected.

But neither Ukraine nor its European partners were involved in drafting the new plan, and European foreign ministers warned against coming up with proposals without consulting Kyiv or Brussels.

“For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, warned that any peace deal would have to address the “root causes of the conflict” – a phrase Moscow has used as shorthand for a series of maximalist demands which, to Ukraine, are tantamount to surrender.

Ukrainian MP Lisa Yasko told the BBC that Ukraine had “not been consulted”.

“It looks like someone wants to decide things for us,” she said. “And that’s very painful for most of us Ukrainians.”

Since starting his second term earlier this year, Trump has launched into various initiatives aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, including a bilateral summit with Putin in Alaska, several visits by his envoy Witkoff to Moscow, and rounds of talks with Zelensky and other Western leaders.

But as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nears, the two sides remain deeply at odds over how to end the conflict.

While Ukraine has become adept at targeting Russian 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 killed in a Russian missile and drone attack on blocks of flats in Ukraine’s western city of Ternopil. Another 17 people were still missing at the site on Thursday, Zelensky said as he offered his condolences.