Zelensky ready to work with US on ‘their vision’ for ending Ukraine war

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”.

Witkoff and 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,” Leavitt 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.

Zelensky’s office issued a carefully worded statement earlier on Thursday, saying the plan “in the American side’s assessment, could help reinvigorate diplomacy”.

In August Trump came away from a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska empty-handed. The US president became increasingly frustrated with negotiations with Moscow, culminating in Trump imposing fresh sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil producers which come into force on Friday.

Zelensky has been careful not to publicly criticise or reject the plan, saying 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.

But he stressed that Ukraine needs a “worthy peace,” and that the “dignity of the Ukrainian people” must be respected.

The statement came after a meeting in Kyiv on Thursday between Zelensky 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.

When asked if Europe was involved in the process of drafting the plan, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: “Not that I know of.”

She added: “For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans onboard.”

Ukraine’s European allies have now had to take on much of the funding for Kyiv’s military and financial aid, and countries including the UK and France have offered to provide forces to ensure any peace holds.

Moscow, meanwhile, has downplayed the significance of the 28-point plan.

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

Peskov 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.

Since starting his second term earlier this year, Trump has launched into various initiatives aimed at ending the war in Ukraine including several visits by his envoy Steve 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.

Late on Thursday, a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least five people, according to the regional governor. Hours later, Russia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted and destroyed 33 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions.

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.