Ukraine’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations has declared that Kyiv will not cross any red lines on sovereignty or territory in negotiations with Russia, responding directly to a US-drafted peace proposal while warning that Moscow continues to escalate violence against civilians.

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Kristina Gayovishin said Ukraine is prepared to engage constructively on a draft peace plan received from the American side, but insisted that any process must respect the country’s territorial integrity and sovereign rights.

“While Ukraine stands ready to engage in meaningful negotiations to end this war, our red lines are clear and unwavering,” she told the Council. “There will never be any recognition, formal or otherwise, of Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation as Russian. Our land is not for sale.”

Response to US-backed proposal

According to Ukrainska Pravda, Kyiv has officially received a draft peace plan from Washington and agreed to discuss its provisions. Reports circulating in US media have suggested the proposal could include transferring the entire Donbas to Russia, limiting Ukraine’s weapons arsenal, reducing its armed forces, and recognizing the Russian language as a second state language.

Addressing such reports without detailing their contents, Gayovishin underlined that Ukraine would not accept any restrictions on its right to self-defense or the strength of its armed forces, nor any limits on its freedom to choose alliances.

“We will not accept any limits on our right to self-defense or on the size and capabilities of our armed forces,” she said. “Nor will we tolerate any infringement on our sovereignty, including our sovereign right to choose the alliances we want to join.”

She stressed that any peace process must respect the principle: “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. And nothing about Europe without Europe.”

Civilian toll and escalation

Gayovishin told the Council that the security situation has worsened dramatically, citing what she described as an intensifying campaign of terror against civilians. She said the latest overnight barrage involved 48 missiles and 476 attack drones and had left a particularly grim toll in the city of Ternopil. There, 26 people were killed – including three children – and 94 injured, among them 18 children, after a Russian missile scored a direct hit on a nine-story residential building. She added that 16 people remain missing. “And as a result of the attack by Russia, which took place during this very meeting,” she continued, “at least five have been killed and three more wounded in Zaporizhzhia.”She described the attacks as a systematic policy “aimed at annihilating the Ukrainian people,” calling it “state terror and genocide.”

“These are deliberate attacks on children, women and the elderly, families in their homes, patients in their hospitals and teachers and students in schools,” Gayovishin said.

“Support is not escalation”

Gayovishin argued that strengthening Ukraine’s defenses is essential to any credible peace process.

“Reinforcing Ukraine’s defense capabilities is not an escalation,” she said. “It is the only path to compelling Russia to engage constructively in international peace efforts.”

She warned that without sustained and coordinated pressure, Moscow would not stop.

“If we fail to stop Russia now, its aggression will not end with Ukraine,” she said, adding that history would judge harshly any outcome in which Russia is rewarded rather than held accountable.

Call for immediate ceasefire

In closing, Ukraine repeated its demand for a complete, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire as a prerequisite for meaningful negotiations.

“A ceasefire is an essential prerequisite for meaningful negotiations,” Gayovishin said. “It is the first step toward halting Russia’s war of aggression and creating space for diplomacy.”

She also urged support for a forthcoming UN General Assembly resolution calling for the return of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred or deported by Russia, describing the issue as a humanitarian emergency.

“We cannot bring back the children whom this war has already taken,” she said. “But we can stop the abduction of Ukrainian children.”