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A NEW US peace proposal would see Ukraine ceding land and more than halving its army.
The proposal appears to repeat Russia’s maximalist terms to end the war – demands consistently rejected by Ukraine as tantamount to capitulation.
The surprise initiative comes as Russian missiles hit the city of Ternopil, far from the front line, and killed 26 people, including three children.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s efforts to re-engage US President Donald Trump’s administration in the peace process during a visit to Turkey fell flat after an American envoy thought to be joining him did not make the trip.
The draft US peace proposal provides for “recognition of Crimea and other regions that the Russians have taken” and “reduction of the army to 400,000 personnel”, a source familiar with it, who did not wish to be identified, said.
It would also see Ukraine giving up all long-range weapons.
“An important nuance is that we don’t understand whether this is really Trump’s story” or “his entourage’s”, the official added.
It was “unclear” what Russia was supposed to do in return, according to the source.
At the same time, US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll arrived in Kyiv, leading a high-profile Pentagon delegation to meet Ukrainian officials and find ways to settle the conflict.
Driscoll met Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmygal on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s top military commander Oleksandr Syrsky said he had held a “productive” meeting with the US delegation.
“I once again stressed that reinforcing the protection of Ukraine’s airspace, expanding our long-range strike capabilities against enemy military targets and maintaining and stabilising the front line will undermine the offensive potential of the adversary,” he said in social media posts.
American media outlet Axios earlier reported Moscow and Washington had been working on a secret plan to end the almost four-year war.
The Kremlin declined to comment on the report, later saying there was nothing new in the peace settlement progress.
Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, much of it ravaged by fighting.
In response to the US proposals, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Ukraine and Europe needed to be involved in any peace plan.
“For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board,” Kallas told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
“We have to understand that in this war, there is one aggressor and one victim. So we haven’t heard of any concessions on the Russian side.”
Kallas said that as far as she knew there had been no input from Ukraine or its European backers.
“We welcome all meaningful efforts to end this war, but like we have said before it has to be just and lasting,” she said.
“If Russia really wanted peace it could have agreed to an unconditional ceasefire already.”
French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot insisted that peace in Ukraine could not mean “capitulation” for Kyiv.
“Discussions are needed for us to reach a just and durable peace in Ukraine, they should start with a ceasefire on the contact line that allows for orderly discussions on the question of territories and security,” Barrot said.
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