Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is ready for “honest work” with the United States after receiving a draft peace plan to end the war with Russia.
Several American media outlets report that under the plan, kyiv would cede areas of Donbas in eastern Ukraine that it still controls, reduce the size of its army and pledge never to join NATO.
It was unclear how involved Ukraine has been in drafting the plan, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the United States had been “equally engaged with both sides.”
In a separate statement, Zelensky’s office said Ukraine had “agreed to work on the provisions of the plan in a way that would bring about a just end to the war.”
If confirmed, the plan’s demands would appear to favor Moscow’s interests.
Zelensky said he hopes to speak with US President Donald Trump in the coming days about the proposals, which also include plans for Ukraine to give up many of its weapons.
But at a White House news conference, Leavitt rejected suggestions that the plan required major concessions from Ukraine and said the US president “supports” it.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been quietly working on a proposal for about a month, engaging both sides “to understand what these countries would commit to in order to achieve lasting peace,” Leavitt said.
“It is a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine,” he added, without giving further details. “We think it should be acceptable to both sides. And we are working very hard to achieve it.”
An unnamed senior US official told CBS News that the plan “was drawn up immediately after conversations with one of the most senior members of President Zelensky’s administration, Rustem Umerov, who accepted most of the plan, after making several modifications, and presented it to President Zelensky.”
In a statement on
The statement came after a meeting in kyiv on Thursday between Zelensky and senior U.S. military figures, including U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, and the top commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, Gen. Chris Donahue.
Despite kyiv’s lukewarm reaction to the draft, Zelensky said he “appreciated the efforts of President Trump and his team to return security to Europe,” perhaps a way to keep the American president on his side despite his administration’s apparent soft approach toward Russia.
In his late-night speech on Thursday, Zelensky said Ukraine needs a “dignified peace” and that the “dignity of the Ukrainian people” must be respected.
Asked whether Europe was involved in the process of drafting the plan, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: “Not that I know of.”
“For any plan to work, it needs the participation of Ukrainians and Europeans,” he added.
Moscow 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’.”
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 that, for Ukraine, amount to surrender.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Ukraine’s future must be determined by Ukraine and we must never lose sight of that principle which underpins the just and lasting peace we all want to see.”
Since beginning his second term earlier this year, Trump has undertaken several initiatives aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, including a bilateral summit with Putin in Alaska, several visits by his envoy 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 approaches, the two sides remain deeply at odds over how to end the conflict.
While Ukraine has become adept at attacking Russian military infrastructure and energy facilities with long-range drones, Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian targets continue unabated.
Late Thursday, a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least five people, according to the regional governor.
Earlier this week, at least 26 people were killed in a Russian missile and drone attack on apartment blocks in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. Another 17 people remained missing at the site on Thursday, Zelensky said as he offered his condolences.
