U.S.-Russian peace plan would force Ukraine to cede land and cut army

KYIV, Ukraine — A plan to end the war in Ukraine, negotiated between the Trump administration and Russia, would require Kyiv to surrender territory, significantly reduce the size of its army and relinquish some types of weaponry, according to officials familiar with the proposal.

The 28-point proposal, drafted without Ukrainian involvement, reflects the maximalist demands the Kremlin has made throughout the war, which Ukraine has long denounced as amounting to capitulation. Parts of the plan were described by two officials who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly — one Ukrainian and one who did not want to be identified by country.

It is the latest effort by the Trump administration to reinvigorate stalled settlement talks in the nearly 4-year-old war. But some Ukrainian commentators also saw the proposal as a bid by Russia to press Ukraine for concessions while the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is weakened by a high-level corruption scandal, which could dissuade allies from sending aid. Kyiv is also under growing pressure on the battlefield, as Moscow’s forces make gains against a Ukrainian military that is stretched thin.

“One thing is clear,” said Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, a former presidential foreign policy adviser. “Ukraine’s position right now is not strong, and this is seen not only inside the country but also by our partners, including the United States, and of course by the aggressor.” Yelisieiev is in the political opposition to Zelenskyy.

The White House did not comment on the contents of the proposal. Asked by reporters about the plan, Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff, said, “Don’t have any news or announcement to make on that.”

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The United States is reviving its diplomatic efforts after meetings over the summer between Ukrainian and Russian officials, and between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, produced no breakthroughs. As part of this push, the Trump administration has pressed Russia and Ukraine to present in writing terms for a settlement that could become a basis of negotiations.

A delegation of senior U.S. military officials arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday for talks with Ukrainian officials about breaking the impasse.

Zelenskyy, too, is seeking to resurrect long-dormant peace talks. He met Wednesday in Turkey, where Ukraine and Russia have engaged in previous rounds of discussions, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan has offered to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.

The U.S.-Russian plan emerged from talks between Steve Witkoff, a Trump administration envoy, and a Russian counterpart, Kirill Dmitriev. A senior Ukrainian official said the Trump administration had informed Ukraine of the talks but had not sought Kyiv’s input. The terms in the plan were unacceptable to Kyiv, the official said.

The proposal would require Ukraine to surrender to Russia the entire eastern Donbas region, even lands that Russian forces have not captured, according to the Ukrainian official. At the current rate of advance, Russia would have to fight an additional four years to seize that territory, according to DeepState, a group with ties to the Ukrainian military that maps the battlefield.

The proposed settlement would also cap the size of Ukraine’s army far below its current levels and would recognize the Crimean Peninsula and other occupied areas as Russian, the senior Ukrainian official said.

Another official familiar with the proposal said Russia was demanding that foreign troops be prohibited on Ukrainian-controlled territory after a ceasefire. This would rule out a French and British proposal to deploy what has been called a reassurance force to stabilize security in postwar Ukraine.

The plan, that official said, would also require Ukraine to relinquish some long-range weapons. Ukraine now routinely fires domestically made exploding drones at targets in Russia hundreds of miles from its border, including in Moscow.

The settlement proposal is similar to one that Russia presented in talks in 2022. Moscow subsequently lost about half of the territory it had captured in the initial invasion, before recapturing some in bloody, drawn-out fighting.

This fall, the tide has turned in Russia’s favor, as its forces have menaced long-held Ukrainian positions on the battlefield. Russia is advancing in small units into a partially surrounded city in eastern Ukraine, Pokrovsk, signaling momentum. Most analysts expect the city to fall soon.

The Ukrainian army is strained, running short of soldiers. Analysts and members of Ukraine’s parliament say gaps of more than 600 yards have opened along some stretches of the front line. Increasingly, Ukraine is relying not on infantry in trenches but on soldiers flying exploding drones to slow the onslaught.

Russia has signaled a willingness to keep up its costly, incremental advances until Ukraine acquiesces to concessions limiting its security ties to the West. Kyiv says that such concessions would reward Russian aggression and leave Ukraine weak and vulnerable, arguing that Russia would use a cessation in fighting to recoup its strength for another invasion in the future.