Zelensky says Ukraine ready to advance peace plan, will discuss disputed points with Trump

WASHINGTON/KYIV - President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov 25 Ukraine was ready to advance a US-backed framework for ending the war with Russia and discuss disputed points with US President Donald Trump in talks he said should include European allies.

In a speech to what are known as the “Coalition of the Willing” allies, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Mr Zelensky urged European leaders to hash out a framework for deploying a “reassurance force” to Ukraine and to keep backing Kyiv for as long as Moscow showed no inclination to end its invasion.

US and Ukrainian officials have been trying to narrow the gaps between them over Mr Trump’s plan to end Europe’s deadliest and most devastating conflict since World War II, with Ukraine wary of being strong-armed into accepting a deal largely on Russian terms, including territorial concessions.

“We firmly believe security decisions about Ukraine must include Ukraine, security decisions about Europe must include Europe... Because when something is decided behind the back of a country or its people, there is always a high risk it simply won’t work,” Mr Zelensky said, according to his speech text.

“That framework is on the table, and we’re ready to move forward together – with the USA, with the personal engagement of President Trump,” he added.

Zelensky may return to US

Separately, Mr Trump told a White House event he thought a deal on Ukraine was getting close but gave no other details, saying only: “We’re going to get there.”

Mr Zelensky could visit the US in the next few days to finalise a deal with Mr Trump, Kyiv’s national security chief, Mr Rustem Umerov, said earlier on Nov 25, though there was no immediate confirmation of such a trip from the US side.

Kyiv’s message hinted that an intense diplomatic push by the Trump administration could be yielding some fruit, but any optimism could be short-lived, as Russia stressed it would not let any deal stray too far from its own objectives.

US and Ukrainian negotiators held talks

on the latest US-backed peace plan in Geneva on Nov 23.

US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll then

met on Nov 24 and 25 with Russian officials

in Abu Dhabi, a spokesperson for Mr Driscoll said.

A Ukrainian official said Kyiv “supports the framework’s essence, and some of the most sensitive issues remain as points for the discussion between presidents.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X that over the past week, the US had made “tremendous progress towards a peace deal by bringing both Ukraine and Russia to the table.”

She added: “There are a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that must be sorted out and will require further talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States.”

Oil prices extended an earlier decline after reports of Ukraine potentially agreeing to a war-ending deal.

Underlining the high stakes for Ukraine, its capital Kyiv was hit by a barrage of missiles and hundreds of drones overnight in

a Russian strike that killed seven people

and again disrupted power and heating systems. Residents were sheltering underground wearing winter jackets, some in tents.

Zelensky: Will discuss sensitive issues with Trump

US policy towards the war has zigzagged in recent months.

A hastily arranged summit between Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August raised worries in Kyiv and European capitals that the Trump administration might accept many Russian demands, though the meeting ultimately

resulted in more US pressure on Russia.

The 28-point plan that emerged last week

caught many in the US government, Kyiv and Europe alike off guard and prompted fresh concerns that the Trump administration might be willing to push Ukraine to sign a peace deal heavily tilted towards Moscow.

The plan would require Kyiv to cede territory beyond the almost 20 per cent of Ukraine that Russia has captured since its February 2022 full-scale invasion, as well as accept curbs on its military and bar it from ever joining NATO - conditions Kyiv has long rejected as tantamount to surrender.

The sudden push has

raised the pressure

on Ukraine and Mr Zelensky, who is now at his most vulnerable since the start of the war after a corruption scandal saw two of his ministers dismissed, and as Russia makes battlefield gains.

Mr Zelensky could struggle to get Ukrainians to swallow a deal viewed as selling out their interests.

He said on Nov 24 the latest peace plan incorporated “correct” points after talks in Geneva. “The sensitive issues, the most delicate points, I will discuss with President Trump,” Mr Zelensky said, in his nightly video address.

Mr Zelensky said the process of producing a final document would be difficult. Russia’s unrelenting attacks on Ukraine have left many sceptical about how peace can be achieved soon.

“There was a very loud explosion, our windows were falling apart, we got dressed and ran out,” said Ms Nadiia Horodko, a 39-year-old accountant, after a residential building was struck in Kyiv overnight.

“There was horror, everything was already burning here, and a woman was screaming from the eighth floor, ‘Save the child, the child is on fire!’“

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said an amended peace plan must reflect the “spirit and letter” of an understanding reached between Mr Putin and Mr Trump at their Alaska summit.

“If the spirit and letter of Anchorage is erased in terms of the key understandings we have established then, of course, it will be a fundamentally different situation (for Russia),” Mr Lavrov warned. REUTERS