Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is ready to work with the US on “their vision” for ending the war with Russia.
Under the widely leaked plan, Kyiv would cede significant areas of the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine that it still controls, cut the size of its army, and pledge not to join Nato – proposals it has previously ruled out.
The White House has pushed back on claims that Ukraine was not involved in the drafting of the plan, which emerged following meetings between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and and Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev.
Provisions in the draft plan come across as heavily slanted towards Moscow – and it received a carefully diplomatic response from Kyiv.
Ukraine has relied heavily on US military support since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, but President Donald Trump has shifted the US position so that further aid is funded by its Nato allies and securing a peace deal has become a priority.
The draft Witkoff-Dmitriev plan emerged as Russia claimed small territorial gains in eastern Ukraine and Zelensky faced a domestic crisis implicating top officials in a $100m (£76) million corruption scandal.
In his nightly address, the Ukrainian leader said US military officials in Kyiv had “presented its proposals, the points of a plan to end the war – their vision”.
“From the first days of the war, we have upheld one very simple position: Ukraine needs peace. A real peace – one that will not be broken by a third invasion.”
Kyiv and its European allies have long supported the idea of a “just and lasting” peace that would ensure no more of Ukraine is taken by Russia. Moscow has already annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula as well as four regions it partly occupies through the current, full-scale invasion.
However, European leaders have been left out of the US-Russia plan and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said from his perspective it was not yet a fully fledged plan but rather “a list of topics and options”, citing remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The leaked draft proposes limiting Ukraine’s military limited to 600,000 personnel, with European fighter jets stationed in neighbouring Poland.
Kyiv would receive “reliable security guarantees”, although details are not given. “It is expected” that Russia will not invade its neighbours and that Nato will not expand further.
The draft also suggests Russia will be “reintegrated into the global economy”, through the lifting of sanctions and by inviting Russia to rejoin the G7 group of the world’s most powerful countries – making it the G8 again.
Zelensky said he was set to speak to Trump in the coming days about the proposals, which also include plans for Ukraine to forgo many of its weapons.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected suggestions that the proposals would constitute major concessions from Ukraine – and that Ukraine had been frozen out, saying the US had engaged “equally with both sides”.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Rubio had been working on a proposal quietly for about a month, and had engaged both sides “to understand what these countries would commit to in order to see a lasting and durable peace”, she said.
“It’s a good plan for both,” she added, without providing further details. “We believe that it should be acceptable to both sides. And we’re working very hard to get it done.”
An unnamed senior US official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that the plan “was drawn up immediately following discussions with one of the most senior members of President Zelensky’s administration, Rustem Umerov, who agreed to the majority of the plan, after making several modifications, and presented it to President Zelensky”.
One Ukrainian MP told the BBC that Kyiv had not been involved in initial discussions, but brought in later on.
