Donald Trump has warned Ukraine to agree to his widely criticised peace proposal by Thursday 27 November or lose access to US intelligence and weapons.
Volodymyr Zelensky said his nation faces “one of the most difficult moments in our history” as he considers a 28-point US-brokered plan that appears to heavily favour Russia.
Kyiv would have to cede land, agree not to join Nato, and accept limits on the size of its military – while Russia would be welcomed back into the international community.
“Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner,” Mr Zelensky said in a bleak address to the nation, vowing that he would not betray his country.
The US has threatened to cut intelligence-sharing and the supply of weapons to Ukraine in an effort to pressure it into agreeing to the framework, according to Reuters sources.
Mr Trump confirmed he had given Ukraine until next Thursday – the United States’ Thanksgiving holiday – to agree to the deal.
“I’ve had a lot of deadlines, but if things are working well, you tend to extend the deadlines,” the US president told Fox News Radio. “But Thursday, we think, is an appropriate time.”
Russian president Vladimir Putin said the US proposals could be the basis of a resolution of the conflict, but that if Kyiv turned down the plan then Russian forces would advance further.
“I believe that it can be used as the basis for a final peaceful settlement,” Putin told senior officials at a meeting of the Russian Security Council.
Putin said that Ukraine was against the plan but that neither Kyiv nor European powers understood the reality that Russian forces were advancing in Ukraine and would continue to advance unless there was peace.
“If Kyiv does not want to discuss President Trump’s proposal and refuses to do so, then both they and the European warmongers should understand that the events that took place in Kupiansk will inevitably be repeated in other key sectors of the front,” he said. “And in general, that works for us.”
The Kremlin urged Ukraine to negotiate “now” or risk losing more territory, claiming that thousands of Ukrainian troops were trapped in Kharkiv amid a Russian advance in the east.
“The space for the freedom of decision-making is shrinking for him as territories are lost,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, while claiming that Moscow was yet to receive anything official from the US on the actual proposition.
European leaders have raised concerns about the plan, which was drawn up without their involvement.
“Russia’s war against Ukraine is an existential threat to Europe,” said the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. “We all want this war to end, but how it ends matters. Russia has no legal right whatsoever to any concessions from the country it invaded. This is a very dangerous moment for all.”
A joint statement from Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz said that any agreement “would have to fully involve Ukraine, preserve its sovereignty and guarantee its future security”.
The Trump plan would see the United States take responsibility for unspecified security guarantees, a major sticking point for Kyiv around ending the war. One of Ukraine’s main demands is dealt with in a single line that provides no details: “Ukraine will receive robust security guarantees.”
Mutual investment and development schemes outlined in the new plan would theoretically bind US and Ukrainian interests, and the US would receive profits from a substantial programme to rebuild Ukraine. European allies would not be able to station peacekeepers in Ukraine.
Russia, meanwhile, would be invited to rejoin the G8, and be gradually reintegrated into the global community, with the lifting of sanctions discussed on a case-by-case basis.
Experts have warned that the US proposal is heavily favourable to Russia, sidelining Europe and leaving Ukraine with no meaningful security guarantees.
“It looks like an attempt by Trump to score a quick diplomatic win rather than a strategy for durable peace,” Natia Seskuria, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), told The Independent.
“In its current form, the plan is a non-starter for Ukraine: it would compel Kyiv to accept major losses without credible security guarantees, while allowing Russia to advance its longstanding goal of seizing the Donbas region it does not yet fully control.”
She warned that such an offer would be politically unfeasible for President Zelensky, who would have to face fresh elections within 100 days of a deal.
“Russia gets everything it wants and Ukraine gets not very much,” said Tim Ash of the think tank Chatham House. “If Zelensky accepts this, I anticipate huge political, social and economic instability in Ukraine.”
And William Browder, anti-corruption campaigner and head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, described the proposal as “a 28-point plan cooked up probably on a drunken night in the Kremlin and then endorsed by the United States”, in comments to Sky News.
The acceleration in US efforts to end the war comes as Ukrainian troops are on the back foot on the battlefield and Mr Zelensky’s government has been undermined by a corruption scandal. With the war’s fourth winter approaching, Russian troops occupy almost one-fifth of Ukraine and have been grinding slowly forward along a 750-mile front line.
Russia says it has taken control of the city of Kupiansk in northeastern Ukraine, and most of Pokrovsk in the east, its first big prizes in nearly two years. Kyiv denies losing control of those cities, but has acknowledged that Russia is advancing.
Mr Zelensky held a phone call on Friday with the leaders of the UK, Germany and France, and later spoke to the US vice-president JD Vance, with a call to Mr Trump expected to take place next week.
“We value the efforts of the United States, President Trump, and his team aimed at ending this war,” he said. “We are working on the document prepared by the American side. This must be a plan that ensures a real and dignified peace.”
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