Above photo: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka.
US calls on Ukraine to cede ‘territory’ and give up ‘some weapons’.
The US is bypassing both Ukraine and Europe in drafting plans to end the war.
The US is requesting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept a US-drafted deal to end the war with Russia that includes Kiev giving up “territory and some weapons,” Reuters reported on 19 November. Citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the news agency stated that the proposals included reducing the size of the Ukrainian military, among other things.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is leading the US effort to draft the plan and is working closely with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, a US official stated.
The request came shortly before Russian drone and missile attacks overnight killed at least 25 people, targeting apartment buildings in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, according to Ukrainian officials.
The officials added that three children were among the dead, and that the number was expected to rise once missing people are accounted for.
About 80 others were injured in the attacks, which saw Russia fire 476 drones and 48 missiles at Ukrainian energy and transport infrastructure sites.
There appears to be no change in Russia’s conditions for ending the war. Moscow demands guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATO, and insists on the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from four eastern Ukrainian oblasts that Russia controls and claims it has annexed.
On Wednesday, Axios reported that the new US plan calls for Ukraine to give up territory occupied by Russia in return for a US security guarantee for Kiev and Europe against future Russian attacks.
In response to the US plan, a European diplomat told Reuters that Trump may be trying to “push Kiev into a corner,” and that any successful proposal must take into account Ukrainian and European conditions.
The news agency added that according to another European diplomat, “the suggestion that Ukraine cut its army seemed like a Russian demand rather than a serious proposal.”
A US delegation led by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is in Kiev and plans to meet Zelensky on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The US proposal also comes as Zelensky seeks to address the fallout from a $100 million corruption scandal involving his close associates. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s parliament sacked the energy and justice ministers after the results of a major investigation were announced.
As part of the investigation, anti-corruption authorities raided the luxury apartments of Ukrainian politicians in Kiev, one of which had a gold toilet, photos of backpacks full of cash, and audio documents of officials discussing money laundering strategies.
Zelensky’s associate, Timur Mindich, is accused of embezzling funds, but managed to flee to Israel a day before the raid. He was born in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, where his mother was active in the local Jewish community. His father, Mykhailo, died in Israel in 2006.
