Extract from ABC News
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed he will not betray Ukraine's interests. (Reuters: Sarah Meyssonnier)
In short:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed he would not betray his country's national interest, as he addressed news of a US-led peace plan to end Russia's war.
The 28-point plan that America has presented to Ukraine endorses some of Moscow's demands and leaves security guarantees for Kyiv vague.
Mr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine now faces the difficult choice to either "losing dignity or risk losing a major partner".
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to Ukrainians for unity and vowed he would never betray Ukraine, in a solemn address to the nation after the US presented Kyiv with a peace plan that endorses key Russian demands.
Speaking in the street outside his office, a location he uses only rarely for major addresses, the Ukrainian president said his country was trying to preserve its freedom while retaining the support of its most important ally.
"Now is one of the most difficult moments of our history. Now, the pressure on Ukraine is one of the heaviest. Now, Ukraine can face a very difficult choice — either losing dignity or risk losing a major partner," he said.
"I will fight 24/7 to ensure that at least two points in the plan are not overlooked — the dignity and freedom of Ukrainians."
Washington has presented Kyiv with a 28-point plan, which calls for Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits to its military and renounce ambitions to join NATO.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Washington has given Ukraine a week to accept the framework.
The US had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons supplies for Ukraine if it did not accept the deal, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose the contents of private meetings. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A US military delegation met Mr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday. The US ambassador and the army public affairs chief travelling with the delegation described the meeting as a success and said Washington sought an "aggressive timeline" for the US and Ukraine to sign a document.
Mr Zelenskyy held a phone call on Friday with the leaders of allies Britain, Germany and France, and later spoke to US Vice-President JD Vance.
In earlier remarks he appeared careful not to reject the US plan or to offend the Americans.
"We value the efforts of the United States, President [Donald] Trump, and his team aimed at ending this war," he said.
"We are working on the document prepared by the American side. This must be a plan that ensures a real and dignified peace."
But the plan's call for terms that Kyiv has rejected in the past as capitulation could test the stability of Ukrainian society after nearly four years of relentless warfare.
"Russia gets everything it wants and Ukraine gets not very much. If Zelenskyy accepts this I anticipate huge political, social and economic instability in Ukraine," said Tim Ash of Britain's Chatham House think tank.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plan could "lay the foundation" for a Ukraine peace deal, confirming for the first time that Moscow had received a copy from the United States.
"I believe that it could lay the foundation for a final peace settlement," he said, referring to Washington's 28-point plan, which enshrines many of Moscow's key demands and has raised concerns in Kyiv and Europe.
Mr Putin also threatened to seize more territory if Kyiv rejects the proposal, saying that the claimed recent capture of Ukrainian city Kupiansk "will inevitably be repeated in other key areas of the front line".
'A very dangerous moment'
European leaders, who were not consulted on the 28-point plan and will discuss it later today, expressed their strong support for Kyiv.
"We all want this war to end, but how it ends matters. Russia has no legal right whatsoever to any concessions from the country it invaded," said the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. "This is a very dangerous moment for all."
US officials, defending their plan, have said it was drafted after consultations with Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, a close Zelenskyy ally who served as defence minister until July.
Kaja Kallas has described this as a "dangerous moment" for Ukraine. (Reuters: Christian Mang)
Mr Umerov "agreed to the majority of the plan, after making several modifications, and presented it to President Zelenskyy", a senior US official said on Thursday.
Mr Umerov denied agreeing to any of the plan's terms, and said he had played only a technical role organising talks.
"I provided no assessments or, even more so, approvals of any points. This is not within my authority and does not correspond to the procedure," he wrote on Telegram.
Russia's demands spelled out, Kyiv's left vague
Donald Trump met Vladimir Putin for a summit in Alaska earlier this year. (Reuters/Sputnik: Gavriil Grigorov)
The plan, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, would require Ukraine to withdraw from territory it still controls in eastern provinces Russia claims to have annexed, while Russia would give up smaller amounts of land it holds in other regions.
Ukraine would be permanently barred from joining the NATO military alliance, and its armed forces would be capped at 600,000 troops. NATO would agree never to station troops there.
Sanctions against Russia would be gradually lifted, Moscow would be invited back into the G8 group of industrialised countries, and frozen Russian assets would be pooled in an investment fund, with Washington given some of the profits.
One of Ukraine's main demands, for enforceable guarantees equivalent to the NATO alliance's mutual defence clause to deter Russia from attacking again, is dealt with in a single line with no details: "Ukraine will receive robust security guarantees."
Mr Trump, who returned to office vowing to quickly end the war, has accepted some of Russia's justifications for its 2022 invasion of its neighbour while also expressing some impatience with Moscow.
Last month he cancelled a proposed summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and imposed sanctions on Russia's two main oil companies, which were set to come into full effect on Friday, Washington's deadline for foreign buyers to wind down Russian oil purchases.
Reuters
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