 "'Absurd and unacceptable': Kyiv slams US-Russia peace proposal, says plan equals capitulation")
Ukrainian officials on Thursday dismissed a new US-Russia peace proposal as “absurd” and wholly unacceptable, even as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to discuss the proposal with President Donald Trump in the coming days.
According to a Guardian report, citing officials, the plan — said to have been drafted by Kirill Dmitriev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff — was dismissed by Kyiv as a “provocation” intended to sow division among Ukraine’s partners and “disorient” its international allies.
“There are currently no signs that the Kremlin is ready for serious negotiations. Putin is trying to stall for time and avoid US sanctions,” The Guardian quoted Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine’s foreign policy parliamentary committee, as saying.
He dismissed Dmitriev as a “nobody”.
Ukraine’s first Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya dismissed the initiative as entirely unrealistic, describing it as a classic Soviet-style information operation aimed at shaping opinion and spreading panic.
Media reports say the 28-point proposal mirrors Moscow’s early-2022 demands and was drafted by Russian and US officials with backing from Trump — without any consultation with Kyiv.
The plan calls for Ukraine to cede the northern part of the Donbas region it currently controls, cut its army size by half, and abandon long-range weapons used to strike targets inside Russia. It would also bar foreign troops from Ukrainian territory, effectively ruling out any UK- or France-led peacekeeping force, while the US would provide vague security guarantees, according to Axios.
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According to the report, Ukrainian officials said the proposal amounted to capitulation and the end of Ukraine’s sovereignty. It surfaced nearly four years after Russia’s failed assault on Kyiv and as Trump administration efforts to broker a settlement remain stalled.
Zelenskyy meets top US army official
On Thursday, Zelenskyy met US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll in Kyiv as part of Driscoll’s fact-finding mission on the war and Ukraine’s drone production, though it is unclear whether the draft plan was discussed.
Trump’s special representative to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has reportedly resigned effective January, after being sidelined from US-Russian talks due to his pro-Ukraine stance.
The renewed US push for major Ukrainian concessions comes as Zelenskyy faces his biggest political crisis since 2019, with his former business partner Timur Mindich and two ministers accused in a major bribery scheme, and lawmakers from his own party urging him to fire his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
A western diplomat said Russia appeared to be exploiting Ukraine’s current domestic turmoil.
“It seems Dmitriev has spun this plan at a time when Zelenskyy is weak. The Russians are good at exploiting things,” The Guardian quoted the diplomat as saying.
“It feels like every other Russian plan. I don’t think it’s going to fly with Ukraine,” the diplomat added.
The diplomat said that Moscow’s demands on the Russian language were a “hook” the Kremlin could later use to its advantage, and noted the proposal lacked the security guarantees Ukraine would require from the US and Europe for any agreement to hold.
European leaders in Brussels said they were not informed in advance about the White House’s latest initiative.
According to the Guardian report, citing a source, Trump administration’s decision to halt direct military aid to Kyiv weakened its leverage to push a Moscow-friendly settlement.
“We commend peace efforts, but Europe is the main supporter of Ukraine and it’s, of course, Europe’s security that’s at stake. So we expect to be consulted,” Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said.
Call for Ukraine, Europe to be on board
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Europe welcomed efforts toward a lasting and just resolution but stressed: “For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board.”
She said the Dmitriev-Witkoff proposal offered no concessions from Moscow.
“We have to understand that in this war, there is one aggressor and one victim. If Russia really wanted peace, it could have agreed to an unconditional ceasefire already some time ago,” she was quoted as saying.
The UK government said it supported Trump’s intent to “bring this barbaric war to an end,” but underscored that “only the Ukrainian people can determine their future,” adding that Russia could stop the war immediately by withdrawing its troops and ending its “illegal invasion.”
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller declined to comment directly on the proposal but said, “I would agree that that’s an issue which the president has continued to put at the forefront of our foreign policy goal, which is to reach a settlement in the Ukraine-Russia war, so that we can have peace in Europe and we can end the killing and the slaughter of so many innocents.”
US mediation efforts have struggled since Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska in August. Washington later imposed sanctions on Russia’s oil sector in an apparent bid to pressure Moscow into talks. Trump recently put on hold a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest, saying he did not want it to be a “waste of time.”
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy met Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Ankara, with both leaders reaffirming their commitment to a peaceful resolution.
Meanwhile, Russia has intensified strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid, leaving large parts of the country without power.
On Wednesday, it targeted several western cities, including Ternopil, where 26 people — among them three children — were killed in their homes.
Zelenskyy receives draft US peace plan
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has received a draft US peace plan to end the war and expects to discuss it with US President Donald Trump in the coming days, his office said on Thursday.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Washington has signalled to Kyiv that it must accept the US-drafted framework, which includes territorial concessions and limits on Ukraine’s armed forces — terms European allies warn would amount to capitulation.
Zelenskyy’s office did not address the plan’s specifics, which remain unpublished, but said the president had “outlined the fundamental principles that matter to our people.”
“We are ready now, as before, to work constructively with the American side, as well as with our partners in Europe and around the world, so that the outcome is peace,” the statement said.
“In the coming days, the President of Ukraine expects to discuss with President Trump the existing diplomatic opportunities and the key points required to achieve peace.”
With inputs from agencies
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