KYIV/WASHINGTON: The United States has quietly signaled to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine should accept a Washington-drafted framework for ending the war with Russia a proposal that includes ceding territory, reducing the size of its armed forces, and surrendering certain weapons systems, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Washington wants Kyiv to agree to the core principles of the plan, which has already been shown to Moscow. Ukraine, notably, played no part in drafting the proposals.
If adopted, the framework would mark a significant political and strategic setback for Kyiv at a time when Russian forces are advancing in eastern Ukraine and Zelenskyy is confronting a widening corruption scandal. Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday dismissed both the energy and justice ministers in what officials described as an effort to restore public trust.
A senior Ukrainian official earlier confirmed to Reuters that Kyiv had received “signals” about US-backed proposals that Washington has discussed with Russia. The official stressed that Ukraine had not been invited to participate in shaping the deal.
Zelenskyy, who met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday, is expected to hold talks with senior US Army officials in Kyiv on Thursday. The diplomatic maneuvering sparked the sharpest rise in Ukraine’s sovereign bonds in months, reflecting investor expectations of renewed negotiations.
Formal peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow have been stalled since July, when both sides met in Istanbul without progress. Since then, Russia has escalated its nearly four-year-old invasion, with overnight strikes killing 25 people on Wednesday, further tightening military pressure on Ukrainian defenses.
Meanwhile, efforts to revive a diplomatic path appear to be intensifying, though the Kremlin has shown no indication that it is willing to soften its long-standing demands. Russian President Vladimir Putin insists Ukraine must renounce NATO membership and withdraw from four regions Moscow claims to have annexed conditions Kyiv has repeatedly rejected as unacceptable.
With the battlefield situation deteriorating and political turbulence at home, Zelenskyy now faces mounting pressure from Washington and allies to assess whether a compromise however painful is preferable to an open-ended conflict.