\n<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he\u2019s willing to work with the United States on a plan to end Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine, despite pushback from European allies who say that the US-backed plan heavily favours Russia.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy\u2019s office on Thursday confirmed that he had received a draft of the plan, and that he would speak with US President Donald Trump in the coming days.<\/p>\n
His office did not comment directly on the contents of the plan, which has not been published, but the Ukrainian leader had \u201coutlined the fundamental principles that matter to our people\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the coming days, the President of Ukraine expects to discuss with President Trump the existing diplomatic opportunities and the key points required to achieve peace,\u201d Zelenskyy\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
Several media outlets reported that the 28-point plan involves Ukraine ceding territory and weapons. Citing an unnamed US official with \u201cdirect knowledge\u201d, Axios reported the plan would give Russia parts of eastern Ukraine that Moscow does not currently control, in exchange for a US security guarantee for Ukraine and Europe against future Russian aggression.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have been quietly working on the plan for a month, receiving input from both Ukrainians and Russians on terms that are acceptable to each side, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Thursday.<\/p>\n
She declined to comment on details of the emerging proposal, but said Trump has been briefed on it and supports it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe it should be acceptable to both sides. And we are working hard to get it done,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy confirmed later that he discussed the plan with US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll in Kyiv.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur teams \u2013 Ukraine and the USA \u2013 will work on the points of the plan to end the war,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram without commenting directly on the plan. \u201cWe are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russia appeared to play down any new US initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsultations are not currently under way. There are contacts, of course, but there is no process that could be called consultations,\u201d Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.<\/p>\n
While Zelenskyy has signalled he is willing to work with the Trump administration on a ceasefire, Kyiv\u2019s European allies have expressed scepticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cUkrainians want peace \u2013 a just peace that respects everyone\u2019s sovereignty, a durable peace that can\u2019t be called into question by future aggression,\u201d French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said during a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels. \u201cBut peace cannot be a capitulation.\u201d<\/p>\n
EU foreign policy head Kaja Kallas said any peace proposal would need support from Europe and Ukraine to move forward, with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski saying that Europe \u2013 whose security is \u201cat stake\u201d \u2013 expects to be consulted on any potential deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope it\u2019s not the victim that has restrictions on its ability to defend itself put on, but it\u2019s the aggressor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy is facing pressure to join the US-backed diplomatic initiative as Ukrainian troops continue to lose ground to Russian forces in the country\u2019s east.<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in October that Russian forces had seized almost 5,000 square kilometres (1,930sq miles) of Ukraine this year.<\/p>\n
On September 25, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, independently assessed the real figure to be closer to 3,434sq km (1,325sq miles).<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s General Staff said Thursday that Moscow\u2019s forces had seized the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk and controlled large sections of the towns of Pokrovsk and Vovchansk \u2013 a claim Ukraine vigorously denied.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe General Staff of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces hereby announces that Kupiansk is under the control of Ukraine\u2019s defence forces,\u201d the Ukrainian General Staff said in a late evening bulletin.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso untrue are statements suggesting that 80 percent of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region has been captured and 70 percent of the city of Pokrovsk.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, a devastating Russian aerial assault on Ternopil in western Ukraine killed at least 26 people and wounded dozens more, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed Thursday.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy said on Thursday that 22 people were still missing at the site of Wednesday\u2019s attack on Ternopil when Moscow unleashed 476 drones and 48 missiles across Ukraine. The attack damaged energy infrastructure across seven Ukrainian regions, prompting nationwide restrictions on power consumption.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery brazen attack against ordinary life indicates that the pressure on Russia [to stop the war] is insufficient,\u201d Zelenskyy said on Telegram.<\/p>\n
The bombardment coincided with Zelenskyy\u2019s visit to Turkiye aimed at reviving peace talks with Russia following his European diplomatic mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe count on the strength of Turkish diplomacy, on [how] it\u2019s understood in Moscow,\u201d Zelenskyy said after his meeting on Wednesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he\u2019s willing to work with the United States on a plan to end Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine, despite pushback from European allies who say that the US-backed plan heavily favours Russia. Zelenskyy\u2019s office on Thursday confirmed that he had received a draft of the plan, and that he would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}