Russia has said it is yet to receive anything official from the US on its peace plan, after Ukraine’s Volodymr Zelensky said he was ready to work with the Trump administration on its “vision” to bring an end to the war.
The widely leaked US plan includes proposals that Kyiv had previously ruled out, such as ceding areas of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls, reducing its army in size, and pledging not to join Nato.
These provisions come across as heavily slanted towards Moscow and received a carefully-worded response from Zelensky’s office on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Russian strikes continue with six people killed overnight – five in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and one in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
The draft plan has emerged as Russia claims small territorial gains in eastern Ukraine and Zelensky faces a domestic crisis implicating top officials in a $100m (£76m) corruption scandal.
The White House has pushed back on claims that Ukraine was frozen out of its drafting, following meetings between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev.
An unnamed US official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that the plan was drawn up “immediately” following discussions with Rustem Umerov, one of the most senior members of Zelensky’s administration, who agreed to the majority of it.
Umerov is said to have made several modifications before he presented it to Zelensky.
In a post on Telegram, Umerov said he did not provide any assessments or approvals of the plan, adding that Ukraine was still “carefully considering our partners’ proposals”.
Zelensky has been careful not to publicly criticise or reject the plan, saying he “appreciated the efforts of President Trump and his team to return security to Europe” – perhaps a way to keep the US president onside despite his administration’s apparent soft approach to Russia.
His office said the plan “in the American side’s assessment, could help reinvigorate diplomacy”.
Zelensky said that he would discuss the proposals with Donald Trump in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said it had not received anything official from the US on its peace plan.
“We are seeing some new elements, but officially we haven’t received anything. There has been no substantive discussion of those points,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said.
He added that Russia remained “completely open to peace talks”.
Russia has long said that any deal would have to address the “root causes of the conflict” – a phrase Moscow has used as shorthand for a series of maximalist demands which, to Ukraine, are tantamount to surrender.
Trump has become increasingly frustrated with negotiations with Moscow, culminating in him imposing fresh sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil producers which came into force on Friday.
Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, and Russian troops have been making slow advances along the vast front line – despite reported huge combat casualties.
Kyiv and its European allies have long pushed for a “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine that would ensure no more of its territory is taken by Russia.
However, when asked if Europe was involved in the process of drafting the plan, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: “Not that I know of.”
She added: “For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans onboard.”
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said the draft document was not fully fledged, describing it instead as a “list of topics and options”.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have discussed the plan with Zelensky.
The leaked draft proposes limiting Ukraine’s military limited to 600,000 personnel, with European fighter jets stationed in neighbouring Poland, as well as plans for Ukraine to forgo many of its weapons.
Kyiv would receive “reliable security guarantees”, although no details have been given. The document says “it is expected” that Russia will not invade its neighbours and that Nato will not expand further.
The draft also suggests Russia will be “reintegrated into the global economy”, through the lifting of sanctions and by inviting Russia to rejoin the G7 group of the world’s most powerful countries – making it the G8 again.
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 the occupied territories in Ukraine told the BBC: “I’m trying to keep my sanity here in the conditions of constant propaganda that Ukraine has forgotten us. I hope they will not sign this.”
Meanwhile, a soldier in Zaporizhzhia, where several buildings were damaged in deadly overnight strikes, said that if Ukraine did not receive support to end the war then it was up to Europe to help out.
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