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

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

The plan was reportedly drafted by U.S. envoy Steve Witkov and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, without Ukraine’s involvement.

Zelensky’s office said in a statement that the United States believed the draft plan could “help reinvigorate diplomacy,” adding that Ukraine “agreed to the terms of the plan in a way that would bring a just end to the war.”

The statement said Kyiv supports “all substantive proposals that can achieve true peace.”

Ukraine did not reveal any details about the proposal, but sources cited by Axios, the Financial Times and Reuters said it included plans for Kyiv to give up the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine it still controls, drastically reduce the size of its army and give up many weapons.

If confirmed, the demands would be heavily skewed toward Moscow’s interests — explaining Kyiv’s lukewarm response to the draft.

But at a press conference at the White House, press secretary Carolyn Leavitt dismissed suggestions that the plan would require significant concessions from Ukraine.

Witkopf and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been “engaging with both sides on an equal footing to understand what commitments these countries will make,” she said.

“This is a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine,” she said, without providing further details. “We think this should be mutually acceptable. We’re working very hard to get it done.”

Moscow has downplayed the importance of the plan, which is rumored to include 28 points.

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

The statement from Zelensky’s office follows a meeting in Kyiv on Thursday between the Ukrainian president and senior U.S. military figures including U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and the top U.S. commander in Europe, Gen. Chris Donahue.

Despite Kyiv’s tepid response to the draft, Zelensky said he “appreciates the efforts of President Trump and his team to return Europe to security” – perhaps a way to keep the U.S. president on side despite his administration’s apparently soft approach to Russia.

Neither Ukraine nor its European partners have been involved in drafting the new plan, with European foreign ministers warning on Thursday against putting forward proposals without consulting Kyiv or Brussels.

“For any plan to work, it needs the participation of Ukrainians and Europeans,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Karas.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that any peace deal must address the “root causes of the conflict” – a term used by Moscow to describe a set of extremist demands that, for Ukraine, amount to capitulation.

Ukrainian MP Lisa Yasko told the BBC that “there have been no consultations with Ukraine”.

“It looks like someone wants to decide things for us,” she said. “This is very painful for most of us Ukrainians.”

Since beginning his second term earlier this year, Trump has launched a variety of initiatives aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, including a bilateral summit with Putin in Alaska, multiple visits to Moscow by special envoy Vitkov and multiple rounds of talks 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 divided over how to end the conflict.

Although Ukraine has become adept at targeting Russian military infrastructure and energy facilities with long-range drones, Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian targets have continued unabated.

Earlier this week, Russian missiles and drones struck apartment buildings in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, killing at least 26 people. Several people were still missing from the scene Thursday.