Donald Trump has approved a 28-point peace plan to end Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
US negotiators had been locked in “secret talks” with Kremlin officials for weeks as Ukraine was locked out of discussions to end the 1,365-day conflict.
The draft peace deal would free Moscow from most sanctions and allow Russia to rejoin the G7 – restoring the economic forum to the G8 for the first time since 2014.
President Putin would also walk away with full ownership over Donetsk and Luhansk, and receive international recognition following his decade-long occupation of Crimea.
Meanwhile, Ukraine would be forced to halve the size of its military, with the ex-Soviet state also being banned from owning long-range missiles and shutting down its most effective fighting units.
The draft deal has already sparked fury from Kyiv, with officials privately putting pressure on other Western nations to condemn the plan drawn up by Steve Witkoff and Kiril Dmitriev.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a statement confirming he would work with Mr Trump on the basis of the proposal.
“Our teams – Ukraine and the USA – will work on the points of the plan to end the war,” Mr Zelensky said.
Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier this year
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“We are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also led European efforts to put pressure on Mr Trump, warning the US not to force Kyiv to “capitulate” to Moscow.
Jean-Noel Barrot, France’s Foreign Minister, said: “Peace cannot mean capitulation. We do not want the capitulation of Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, the EU’s top foreign diplomat Kaja Kallas said the proposal would now be the focus of the talks, instead of how to hit Russia’s economy and oil exports.
Vehicles on fire, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Odesa region of Ukraine |
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Ms Kallas added: “We are now going to discuss the recent news. What we Europeans have always supported is a long-lasting and just peace, we welcome any efforts to achieve that.
“Of course, for any plan to work, it needs the Ukrainians and Europeans on board.
“So this is very clear, we have to understand in this war there is one aggressor and one victim, we haven’t heard any concessions on the Russian side.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski also said: “We commend peace efforts, but Europe is the main parent, the main supporter of Ukraine, and of course, its European security is at stake, so we expect to be consulted.
Volodymyr Zelensky issued a statement after the 28-part plan was revealed
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REUTERS“But also, I hope it’s not the victim that has restrictions on its ability to defend itself, but it’s the aggressor whose aggressive potential should be restricted.”
Under the proposed agreement, Nato would be blocked from deploying troops in Ukraine, with the US also ending military assistance to the ex-Soviet state.
Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine would also adopt Russian as the official state language and have the Russian Orthodox Church imposed as the state religion.
However, Ukraine would be permitted to negotiate security guarantees from the US and European to help maintain any ceasefire.
Russia bombs US factory in Ukraine in one of war’s largest aerial attacks | REUTERSKremlin spin doctor Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on whether President Putin had been briefed on the details of the proposed deal.
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, who serves as Mr Trump’s Secretary of State, wrote on social media that achieving a “durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions”.
He added: “That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”
A delegation of top-level Pentagon officials will meet with their Ukrainian counterparts tomorrow in Kyiv.
