KYIV - President Volodymyr Zelensky said after talks with a top US Army official on Nov 20 that he was ready to work with Washington on a plan to end the war in Ukraine, and he expects to discuss it with President Donald Trump in the coming days.

against the US-backed plan, which sources said would require Kyiv to give up more land and partially disarm, conditions long seen by Ukraine’s allies as tantamount to capitulation.

But Mr Zelensky, whose office said he had received a draft of the plan, said after meeting US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll in Kyiv that Ukraine and the US would work together on elements of the plan.

“Our teams – Ukraine and the USA - will work on the points of the plan to end the war,” Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

“We are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work.”

Mr Zelensky’s office did not comment directly on the content of the 28-point plan, which has not been published, but said the Ukrainian leader 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.

Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky

in a disastrous meeting for the Ukrainian leader at the White House in March, but talks went more smoothly when he visited the White House this summer.

The White House said senior Trump administration officials had met Ukrainian officials in the past week to discuss the plan. Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff were involved in the meetings and that Washington was having good conversations with both sides about how to end the war.

The acceleration in US diplomacy comes at an awkward time for Kyiv, with its troops on the back foot on the battlefield and Mr Zelensky’s government undermined by a corruption scandal.

on Nov 18.

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 President Vladimir Putin laid out at a summit with US President Donald 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.

Russian claims ‘untrue’

With another winter approaching in the nearly four-year-old war, Russian troops are slowly advancing while bombarding Ukrainian energy supplies and cities as the cold winter sets in.

The Kremlin said on Nov 20 that Russia’s leader had visited the command post of the Russian forces’ “West” grouping where he met the chief of Russia’s general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, and other top military brass.

Gen Gerasimov told Mr Putin that Russian forces had taken control of the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, a city Moscow sees as an important target in its westward push through central and eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine dismissed this claim - and others made by Gen Gerasimov - as untrue.

“The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces hereby announces that Kupiansk is under the control of Ukraine’s defence forces,” the Ukrainian general staff said in a late evening bulletin.

“Also untrue are statements suggesting that 80 per cent of Vovchansk, in the Kharkiv region, has been captured, and 70 per cent of the city of Pokrovsk.”

Video released by Russia’s defence ministry on Nov 20 showed its troops moving freely through the southern part of Pokrovsk - a ruined railway hub in Ukraine’s east - patrolling deserted streets lined with charred apartment blocks.

‘Peace cannot be capitulation’ says France

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels did not comment in detail about the US plan, but indicated they would not accept demands for Kyiv to make punishing concessions.

“Ukrainians want peace - a just peace that respects everyone’s sovereignty, a durable peace that can’t be called into question by future aggression,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

“But peace cannot be a capitulation.”

Mr Rubio said earlier on X that Washington would “continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict”.

“Achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions,” Mr Rubio said.

Energy facilities hit

Russia has been pounding Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with nightly bombardments, killing civilians and causing power cuts as colder weather approaches.

Authorities said 22 people were missing and 26 dead from

on Nov 19, one of the worst attacks in months.

Another Russian attack knocked out power for 400,000 Ukrainians.

Ukraine said it had struck two Russian oil refineries.

Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022, occupies almost a fifth of Ukraine and says it will fight on unless Ukraine cedes additional land, accepts permanent neutrality and cuts its armed forces.

Ukraine says that would amount to capitulation and leave it unprotected should Russia attack again.

Mr Trump, who returned to office this year vowing to swiftly end the war, has reoriented US policy away from staunchly supporting Ukraine towards accepting some of Moscow’s justifications for its invasion.

But he has also shown impatience with Moscow, cancelling a summit with Russia’s leader in October and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two main oil companies. Nov 21 is the deadline for foreign buyers to wind down Russian oil purchases. REUTERS