US plan for Ukraine war would cede territory to Russia

US President Donald Trump's plan for ending the war in Ukraine would cede territory to Russia and limit the size of Kyiv's military, according to a draft proposal obtained by The Associated Press. The proposal would also prevent the future expansion of NATO, a significant victory for Moscow, which views the alliance as a potential threat. In addition, $US100 billion in frozen Russian assets would be dedicated to rebuilding Ukraine. There would also be a path to reintegrating Russia in the global economy, including the future lifting of sanctions. The country would also return to what was formerly known as the Group of 8, which includes many of the world's biggest economies. According to a person familiar with the matter, the emerging framework includes promises from Moscow that it will make no further attacks, something White House officials view as a concession by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has repeatedly justified the war by claiming Ukraine was a state created artificially by Soviet leaders. The framework also includes economic incentives for both sides. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged to work with Washington and expected to discuss the plan with Trump in coming days. But Zelenskiy, whose office said he had received a draft, said after meeting US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll in Kyiv that Ukraine and Washington would work together on elements of it. "Our teams - Ukraine and the USA - will work on the points of the plan to end the war," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. "We are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work." Zelenskiy's office did not comment directly on the content of the 28-point plan, which has not been published, but said he had "outlined the fundamental principles that matter to our people". "In the coming days, the President of Ukraine expects to discuss with President Trump the existing diplomatic opportunities and the key points required to achieve peace," it said. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a news briefing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff had been quietly working on the plan for about a month and Trump supports the plan. She said the US engaged equally with the Ukrainians and the Russians on the text. Zelenskiy's office said Driscoll had presented him with the plan only on Thursday, and several sources told Reuters and other media outlets that the plan was the fruit of backchannel conversations between Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, the special envoy of Putin. In a message on X, Rubio said the US "will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict" and that peace will require concessions from both Kyiv and Moscow. The acceleration in US diplomacy comes at an awkward time for Kyiv, with its troops on the back foot on the battlefield and Zelenskiy's government undermined by a corruption scandal. Moscow played down any new US initiative. "Consultations are not currently under way. There are contacts, of course, but there is no process that could be called consultations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He said Russia had nothing to add beyond the position Putin laid out at a summit with Trump in August, adding that any peace deal must address the "root causes of the conflict", a phrase Moscow has long used to refer to its demands. With another winter approaching in the nearly four-year-old war, Russian troops occupy almost one-fifth of Ukraine and are slowly advancing while bombarding Ukrainian energy supplies and cities as the cold winter sets in. with DPA and AP Australian Associated Press