Ukraine would enter the European Union as soon as January 2027 under a US-backed framework aimed at ending the war with Russia, according to reports on Friday.

The possibility of EU accession by Jan. 1, 2027, appears explicitly in the latest draft of a Washington-led peace proposal, a senior source familiar with the discussions told AFP.

This updated plan, which would also involve Ukraine ceding territories to Russia, arrives as US President Donald Trump intensifies pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky to finalize a peace agreement by Christmas.

“It’s stated there but it’s a matter for negotiation, and the Americans support it,” the senior official told AFP in reference to the clause.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle reported that Marta Kos, the EU’s commissioner for enlargement, said she had received “clear instructions” from European affairs ministers at an informal gathering in Lviv earlier this week to advance Ukraine’s accession process.

Kos stopped short of committing to a fixed timetable, but remarked: “I’m very happy that this peace plan speaks about EU accession of Ukraine. This is now the first draft. We will see what will come out at the end.”

“It depends on how quick Ukraine will be with the reforms,” Kos added.

Earlier on Friday, the Financial Times reported that European officials supportive of Kyiv’s EU aspirations indicated that the Commission now recognizes the importance of not obstructing the peace process by opposing the accelerated membership timeline.

The EU’s enlargement procedure traditionally unfolds over the course of years, demanding unanimous consent from all 27 member states, with some, including Hungary, having consistently blocked Ukraine’s bid.

Ukraine has not yet completed a single one of the EU’s more than 30 negotiating chapters, and the proposed 2027 timeline would bypass the bloc’s usual merit-based approach to enlargement.

Sources familiar with the plan told the FT that it would compel Brussels to reconsider its entire enlargement framework, including the timing of fund disbursements and voting rights.

The Telegraph wrote that the initiative had been dubbed a “crafty” maneuver by Kyiv to revive its stalled membership talks by forcing the EU to reconsider its accession procedures.

“You can’t deny Kyiv’s crafty negotiating skills these days,” a diplomatic source told the paper.

Locking in a peace deal that includes a membership timetable would effectively guarantee Ukraine’s entry into the EU. Even the most skeptical officials in Brussels would struggle to oppose the fast-tracked path without jeopardizing the broader peace process, the paper reported.

Ukraine has pursued EU membership since 2014 and introduced reforms, though entrenched corruption remains a persistent obstacle.

“There is a zero per cent probability that Ukraine will be a full EU member state on 1 January 2027,” said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe director at Eurasia Group, told FT.

“But this commitment could breathe life into Ukraine’s EU bid, and force policymakers to further innovate and expedite Ukraine’s accession process.”

Ukraine applied for EU membership shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. It officially received the status of candidate for membership in June 2023 and began EU membership talks in June 2024.

On Thursday, Zelensky said that Ukraine’s future EU membership “depends largely on the Europeans – and on the Americans too, in fact.

“Because if we agree a deal specifying when Ukraine becomes a member of the EU, the Americans, as a party to this agreement, will do everything so that our European path cannot be blocked by others in Europe over whom they have influence.”

Earlier, in October, Zelensky announced: “Ukraine will be in the European Union, with or without Orbán, because this is the choice of the people of Ukraine.”

“Hungary has no moral obligation to support Ukraine’s EU accession. No country has ever blackmailed its way into the European Union — and it won’t happen this time either,” Orbán retaliated at the time.