The US is pressing Ukraine to accept a peace plan that calls for Kyiv to cede swathes of land currently under its control and offers big concessions to Russia, including a ban on any future expansion of the Nato military alliance.
The 28-point plan, would also create a US-Russian investment vehicle using frozen Russian assets – and allow Moscow back into the G8 group of nations.
The terms, drafted by American and Russian officials, confirm fears in Ukraine and Europe that US President Donald Trump will press Kyiv to accept concessions to end the war without sufficient security guarantees that would deter Moscow from attacking again in future.
The proposal includes just one line about security guarantees for Ukraine but gives no details about what those assurances would be.
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Ukrainian officials said they faced intense pressure from the US to accept the plan, which crosses long-standing red lines for Ukraine.
The plan requires Ukrainian forces to fully withdraw from the Donetsk region, parts of which they currently control, turning the territory into a demilitarised zone formally considered part of Russia.
It would also limit the size of the country’s armed forces to 600,000 personnel – from more than 900,000 currently – and enshrine in Ukraine’s constitution that it will not seek membership in Nato.
Kyiv has long said those terms are non-starters for any peace talks as they would leave it vulnerable to future Russian aggression.
A senior US official described the plan as a “working document” that could still change. Senior Ukrainian officials said they were pushing back on some elements of the proposal.
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The plan was shared in full with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday in Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials said the US expected Zelenskiy to sign the agreement “before Thanksgiving”, which falls on Thursday next week, with the aim of presenting a peace deal in Moscow later this month and concluding the process by early December. Officials in Kyiv said the short deadline was unlikely to give Ukraine enough time to negotiate better terms.
Zelenskiy earlier on Thursday met a US military delegation led by secretary of the army Daniel Driscoll, a close ally of vice-president JD Vance. The Ukrainian president confirmed in a post on X that he had discussed the peace plan with Driscoll.
US Army spokesperson Colonel Dave Butler told reporters in Kyiv that Driscoll and Zelenskiy “agreed on an aggressive timeline for signature” on the peace plan.
“It’ll be an agreement between the US and the Ukrainians for starters,” he said.
The plan would satisfy a number of Russian goals, including the prohibition on Ukraine joining Nato, and a ban on forces from the military alliance being stationed in the country. This would upend efforts by European nations, most of which are members of Nato, to provide Ukraine with security guarantees.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday said: “Any deal must provide full security guarantees and deterrence for Ukraine, Europe and Russia to ensure the end of the war, in addition to financial opportunities for Ukraine to rebuild, and for Russia to rejoin the global economy.”
Under the plan, US sanctions would be lifted in agreed-upon stages and Moscow would be invited to rejoin the G8 group of highly industrialised nations – ending its years of international isolation after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and forced annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The document also envisages that $100bn in frozen Russian sovereign assets would be invested in a US-led effort to rebuild Ukraine, with Washington receiving 50 per cent of the profits from the venture.
Remaining frozen Russian funds would be handed to a separate US-Russian investment vehicle for “joint projects in specific areas”.
Implementation of the deal would be monitored and overseen by a peace council led by Trump.
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