 "Russian President Vladimir Putin. Image/Sputnik via Reuters")
Russia warned it is prepared to seize additional Ukrainian territory if Kyiv rejects a new US-backed peace proposal, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, raising the stakes as Washington presses both sides to consider a negotiated end to the war.
The statement came hours after the United States unveiled a 28-point plan that has unsettled Ukraine and its European partners.
A White House official said President Donald Trump is engaging directly with both Moscow and Kyiv to end the conflict “as quickly as possible,” emphasising that the war has dragged on with “too many senseless deaths.”
Trump told Fox News Radio that next Thursday remains an “appropriate” deadline for Ukraine to respond to the plan, though he suggested the timeline could be extended if talks progress, stressing that the proposal’s core objective is to stop the killing.
While Zelenskyy has offered to negotiate with the US and Russia, he signalled Ukraine may not get everything it wants and has to confront the possibility of losing American support if it makes a stand.
“Currently, the pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest," Zelenskyy said in a recorded speech. “Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner.”
“We will work calmly with America and all partners,” he said, but insisted on fair treatment.
He urged Ukrainians to “stop fighting” each other, in a possible reference to a major corruption scandal that has brought fierce criticism of the government, and said peace talks next week “will be very difficult.”
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Zelenskyy spoke earlier by phone with the leaders of Germany, France and the United Kingdom, who assured him of their continued support, as European officials scrambled to respond to the U.S. proposals that apparently caught them unawares.
Wary of antagonising Trump, the European and Ukrainian responses were cautiously worded and pointedly commended American peace efforts.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer assured Zelenskyy of “their unchanged and full support on the way to a lasting and just peace” in Ukraine, Merz’s office said.
The four leaders welcomed U.S. efforts to end the war. “In particular, they welcomed the commitment to the sovereignty of Ukraine and the readiness to grant Ukraine solid security guarantees,” the statement added.
The line of contact must be the departure point for an agreement, they said, and “the Ukrainian armed forces must remain in a position to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine effectively.”
Starmer said the right of Ukraine to “determine its future under its sovereignty is a fundamental principle.”
Existential threat to Europe
European countries see their own futures at stake in Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion and have insisted on being consulted in peace efforts.
“Russia’s war against Ukraine is an existential threat to Europe. We all want this war to end. But how it ends matters,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in Brussels. “Russia has no legal right whatsoever to any concessions from the country it invaded. Ultimately, the terms of any agreement are for Ukraine to decide."
Trump in his radio interview pushed back against the notion that the settlement, which offers plentiful concessions to Russia, would embolden Putin to carry out further malign action on his European neighbours.
“He’s not thinking of more war,” Trump said of Putin. “He’s thinking punishment. Say what you want. I mean, this was supposed to be a one-day war that has been four years now.”
A European government official said that the U.S. plans weren’t officially presented to Ukraine’s European backers.
Many of the proposals are “quite concerning,” the official said, adding that a bad deal for Ukraine would also be a threat to broader European security.
European Council President Antonio Costa in Johannesburg said of the U.S. proposals: “The European Union has not been communicated (about) any plans in (an) official manner.”
With inputs from agencies