- Trump says the United States is giving kyiv one week to accept the peace plan.
- Zelensky, the Europeans are working on a counterproposal, sources say.
- Putin says he received the American plan and says it needs discussion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Friday that Ukraine risks losing its dignity and freedom – or Washington’s backing – over a US peace plan that backs key Russian demands, a proposal that Donald Trump said kyiv should accept within a week.
The US president told Fox News Radio that he believed Thursday was an appropriate deadline for kyiv to agree to the plan, confirming what two sources told Reuters.
Trump later told reporters that time was short, given the approach of winter and the need to end the bloodshed, and that Zelensky would have to approve the plan.
“He’s going to have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then you know, I guess they should keep fighting,” he said.
“At some point he’s going to have to accept something he hasn’t accepted,” Trump said.
Recalling his contentious February meeting with Zelensky, Trump added: “Remember, right in the Oval Office, not long ago, I said, ‘You don’t hold the cards.'”
Washington’s 28-point plan calls for Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and give up its ambitions to join NATO. It also contains some proposals that Moscow could oppose and demands that its forces withdraw from some areas they have captured, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had previously refused to budge on Russia’s key territorial and security demands, said Friday that the U.S. plan could be the basis of a final resolution to the nearly four-year conflict. He said kyiv was against the plan, but that neither he nor his European allies understood the reality of Russian advances in Ukraine.
‘Dignity and freedom for Ukrainians’
Zelensky, who in the past rejected the terms of the plan as a capitulation, called for the unity of Ukrainians and said he would never betray Ukraine.
“Now, Ukraine may face a very difficult choice: lose dignity or risk losing an important partner,” he said in an address to the nation, adding: “I will fight 24/7 to ensure that at least two points of the plan are not overlooked: the dignity and freedom of Ukrainians.”
Two sources told Reuters that Washington had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and arms supplies to Ukraine if it did not accept the deal. They spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal the content of private meetings.
A senior U.S. official later said it was not accurate to say that the United States threatened to withhold intelligence information.
In public, Zelensky has been careful not to reject the American plan or offend Americans.
He spoke on Friday with the leaders of Britain, Germany and France, and later with US Vice President JD Vance. He said he had agreed with Vance that his advisers would work “to find a viable path to peace.”
“We value the efforts of the United States, President Trump and his team aimed at ending this war,” Zelensky said. “We are working on the document prepared by the American side. It must be a plan that guarantees a real and dignified peace.”
A bad deal for Ukraine could test the stability of its society after nearly four years of relentless war.
“Russia gets everything it wants and Ukraine doesn’t get much,” said Tim Ash of the British think tank Chatham House. “If Zelensky accepts this, I anticipate enormous political, social and economic instability in Ukraine.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on X that he had “a good, confidential phone call” with Trump on Friday night about the peace plan. “They agreed on next steps at the advisory level,” he said.
The plan is expected to dominate discussions on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg that European leaders will attend this weekend, despite Trump’s boycott.
‘A very dangerous moment’
Three sources told Reuters that Ukraine was working on a counterproposal to the 28-point plan with Britain, France and Germany. The Europeans have not been consulted about the American plan and have expressed strong support for kyiv.
“We all want this war to end, but it matters how it ends. Russia has no legal right to receive concessions from the country it invaded,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. “This is a very dangerous time for everyone.”
U.S. officials have said their plan was drafted after consultations with Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, a close Zelensky ally who served as defense minister until July.
Umerov “agreed to most of the plan, after making several modifications, and presented it to President Zelensky,” a senior US official said Thursday.
However, Umerov denied having accepted any of the terms of the plan and said he had played only a technical role in organizing the talks.
Russia’s demands are clear, Kyiv’s left is vague
The plan would require Ukraine to withdraw from territory it still controls in the eastern provinces that Russia claims to have annexed, while Russia would cede smaller amounts of land it owns in other regions.
Ukraine would be permanently banned from joining the NATO military alliance and its armed forces would be capped at 600,000 soldiers. NATO would agree to never station troops there.
Sanctions against Russia would be gradually lifted, Moscow would be invited back into the G8 group of industrialized countries, and frozen Russian assets would be pooled into an investment fund, from which Washington would receive part of the profits.
One of Ukraine’s main demands, for enforceable guarantees equivalent to NATO’s mutual defense clause to deter Russia from attacking again, is addressed in a single line without details: “Ukraine will receive strong security guarantees.”
