Zelensky agrees to negotiate on Trump’s peace plan

 Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to negotiate on the basis of Donald Trump’s controversial 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine.

On Thursday, European governments, led by France, accused the US president of trying to force Kyiv to “capitulate” to Russia with his latest ceasefire proposal.

But Mr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, told a Pentagon official that he was willing to work with the Trump administration on the strategy.

Details of the plan, released in full on Thursday evening, laid bare the scale of the concessions the United States wants Ukraine to accept.

The plan, drawn up by Washington and Moscow, involves Kyiv ceding land to Russia and halving the size of its army.

It states that Ukraine will not be allowed to invade Russia, nor will it be able to use military force to reclaim lands stolen from it by Moscow.

Nato troops will also not be permitted into Ukraine and foreign fighter jets will only be allowed to be stationed in Poland.

In return for peace, Russia will be given the entire Donbas region and Crimea.

All frozen assets will be handed back to Russia and it will be allowed back into the G7, making it the G8.

Despite stinging criticism of it from European leaders, Mr Zelensky agreed to “work on the plan’s provisions in a way that would bring about a just end to the war”, a Ukrainian official said, adding: “The president of Ukraine outlined the fundamental principles that matter to our people.”

Mr Zelensky commented further that Ukraine was ready to put in “constructive” work to end the war. 

“Our teams – Ukraine and the USA – will work on the points of the plan to end the war. We are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work,” he wrote on Telegram.

“From the first days of the war, we have upheld one very simple position: Ukraine needs peace. A real peace – one that will not be broken by a third invasion. A dignified peace – with terms that respect our independence, our sovereignty, and the dignity of the Ukrainian people. And it is exactly such terms that we must secure.”

Mr Zelensky is expected to hold direct talks with Mr Trump in the coming days to discuss the new strategy.

The news came as the Kremlin said on Thursday that Vladimir Putin had visited the command post of the Russian forces’ West grouping where he met Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s general staff, and other top military brass.

Gen Gerasimov told Putin that Russian forces had taken control of the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, which Moscow sees as an important target in its westward push through central and eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military denied Russia’s claim that Kremlin forces had taken the city. The Telegraph has not independently verified it.

The plan put forward to end the war in Ukraine is a “good plan” for both sides, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said.

On Thursday, she told reporters that Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, had been quietly working on a solution to end the war for the last month.

She added: “They have been engaging with both sides, Russia and Ukraine equally, to understand what these countries would commit to in order to see a lasting and durable peace.

“It’s a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe that it should be acceptable to both sides, and we’re working very hard to get it done.”

The Telegraph on Wednesday reported that Mr Trump’s latest strategy would force Ukraine to cede de facto control of its eastern Donbas region, renting it to Russia as the price of a ceasefire.

The strategy, agreed by American and Russian envoys without Kyiv’s involvement, would also cut the size of Ukraine’s armed forces in half and ban the country from possessing long-range missiles.

It would also block deployments of foreign troops in Ukraine, end US military assistance and prevent foreign diplomatic aircraft from landing in the country. Russian would be made an official state language, and the Russian Orthodox Church would be given official status in the occupied territories.

US officials have promised Kyiv that they believe the new proposals “could help reinvigorate diplomacy” after Mr Trump scrapped plans to meet Putin in Budapest.

Mr Zelensky was pictured meeting Dan Driscoll, the US army secretary, on Thursday. The pair “agreed on an aggressive timeline for signature”, according to a US official cited by the Axios news website.

However, the strategy was met with a furious response by Europeans, who were kept in the dark of its existence.

But, attempting to calm nerves, British officials are understood to have urged Kyiv not to completely disregard Mr Trump’s proposals.

Earlier, Jean-Noel Barrot, France’s foreign minister, said: “Peace cannot mean capitulation. We do not want the capitulation of Ukraine.”

Arriving at a European Union meeting in Brussels, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top foreign diplomat, said the proposal would now be the focus of the talks, instead of how to hit Russia’s economy and oil exports.

Commenting on the deal on Wednesday morning, Ms Kallas said: “What we Europeans have always supported is a long-lasting and just peace – we welcome any efforts to achieve that. Of course, for any plan to work, it needs the Ukrainians and Europeans on board.

“So this is very clear, we have to understand in this war there is one aggressor and one victim, we haven’t heard any concessions on the Russian side.”

In response to the report, Downing Street said it shared Mr Trump’s desire to end the war, but insisted that peace must be both “just and lasting”.

A No 10 spokesman said the UK had been “repeatedly clear that only the Ukrainian people can determine their future”.

Mr Barrot said: “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.”

Johann Wadephul, his German counterpart, echoed that sentiment, saying it was a “prerequisite” for any negotiations that Russia agreed to a truce without any conditions.

Radek Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, told reporters: “We commend peace efforts, but Europe is the main parent, the main supporter of Ukraine, and of course, its European security is at stake, so we expect to be consulted.

“But also, I hope it’s not the victim that has restrictions on its ability to defend itself, but it’s the aggressor whose aggressive potential should be restricted.”

European sources complained that they had been kept in the dark about the proposed peace accord, but Kestutis Budrys, Lithuania’s foreign minister, was more sanguine.

“I do not see the big tragedy that there are some ideas how to end this war – that is good that it is coming from United States,” he said. “Look at the positive side. If they are working on it, it means that they are engaging. They are not dropping it for Europe only to deal with.”

It is said that the plan’s contents largely resemble the demands placed on Ukraine by Putin when he met Donald Trump for a peace summit in Alaska in August.

The US president had hoped to organise a second conference in Budapest, but it was cancelled because it was deemed that Moscow had not moved from its hardline position.