Zelensky/TelegramUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that kyiv risks losing US support over a White House plan on how to end the war with Russia.
Addressing the nation on Friday, Zelensky said Ukraine “could face a very difficult choice: lose dignity or risk losing a key partner,” adding that “today is one of the most difficult times in our history.”
The widely leaked US peace plan includes proposals that kyiv had previously ruled out: ceding the eastern areas it now controls, significantly reducing the size of its army and pledging not to join NATO.
These provisions are seen as heavily tilted toward Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin has said the plan could be a “foundation” for a peace deal.
At Friday’s meeting with his security cabinet, Putin said Moscow had received the plan, which had not been discussed in detail with the Kremlin.
Later that day, US President Donald Trump said Zelensky would “have to like” the plan, adding that otherwise Ukraine and Russia would continue fighting.
Ukraine is critically dependent on deliveries of advanced American-made weaponry, including air defense systems to repel deadly Russian airstrikes, as well as intelligence provided by Washington.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In his 10-minute speech to the presidential office in kyiv, Zelensky warned that Ukraine would face “a lot of pressure… to weaken us, to divide us,” adding that “the enemy does not sleep.”
Urging Ukrainians to remain united, he stressed that “the country’s national interest must be taken into account.”
“We will not make loud statements,” he continued, “we will work calmly with the United States and all partners…offering alternatives” to the proposed peace plan.
Zelensky also said he had been assured of continued support during a phone call with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
After the talks, Starmer stressed that “the principle that Ukraine must determine its future under its sovereignty is a fundamental principle.”
Separately, Zelensky said he had spoken “for almost an hour” with US Vice President JD Vance and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, adding that Ukraine “always respected” President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war.
In Washington, Trump warned that Ukraine would lose more territory to Russia “in a short period of time.”
He said it was “appropriate” to give Ukraine until Nov. 27 – Thanksgiving Day in the United States – to accept the peace deal, but added that the deadlines could be extended if things “go well.”
Speaking at the White House later on Friday, the US president said that “we believe we have a way to achieve peace,” adding that Zelensky “is going to have to approve it.”
Washington has been pressing kyiv to quickly agree to the plan and sent senior Pentagon officials to the Ukrainian capital earlier this week.
EPA/ShutterstockOn Thursday, President Putin seemed determined to continue the war despite Russia’s numerous reported combat casualties.
“We have our tasks, our objectives,” the Kremlin leader, dressed in military uniform, told his army commanders. “The main one is the unconditional achievement of the objectives of the special military operation [full-scale war]”.
The 28-point US peace plan emerged as Russia claims small territorial gains in southeast Ukraine, while Zelensky faces a domestic crisis implicating senior officials in a $100m (£76m) corruption scandal.
The White House has rejected claims that Ukraine was excluded from drafting the proposal, following meetings between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev.
An anonymous US official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that the plan was drawn up “immediately” following talks with Ukraine’s top security official, Rustem Umerov, who agreed with most of it.
Umerov is said to have made several modifications before presenting it to Zelensky.
The leaked draft proposes the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the part of the eastern Donetsk region they currently control, and de facto Russian control of Donetsk, as well as the neighboring Luhansk region and the southern Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
The plan also includes freezing the borders of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of southern Ukraine along the current battle lines. Both regions are partially occupied by Russia.
The US plan also limits Ukraine’s military to 600,000 troops, with European fighter jets stationed in neighboring Poland.
kyiv would receive “reliable security guarantees,” the plan says, although no details have been given. The document says it is “expected” that Russia will not invade its neighbors and that NATO will not expand further.
The draft also suggests that Russia will be “reintegrated into the global economy,” by lifting sanctions and inviting Russia to rejoin the G7 group of the world’s most powerful countries, making it the G8 again.
Ukrainians, both under and free of Russian occupation, adopted a defiant tone in reaction to news of the American proposal.
In kyiv, the widow of a Ukrainian soldier told the BBC: “This is not a peace plan, it is a plan to continue the war.”
Another person speaking from one of Ukraine’s occupied territories told the BBC: “I’m trying to maintain sanity here in the conditions of constant propaganda that Ukraine has forgotten us. I hope they don’t sign this.”
Russia currently controls around 20% of Ukrainian territory and its troops have been advancing slowly along the vast frontline, despite reported heavy losses.
