Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that any deal to end war with Russia must deliver a "dignified peace," following a meeting in Kiev with a visiting US delegation amid reports Washington has proposed a plan echoing several of Moscow’s demands.
"Ukraine needs peace… A dignified peace — so that the conditions are with respect for our independence, our sovereignty and the dignity of the Ukrainian people," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Thursday after meeting US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and Pentagon officials.
"Ukraine will do everything so that no one in the world can say we are upending diplomacy. This is important," Zelenskyy said, adding Ukraine would issue no "rash" statements.
"The number one task for everyone — is a constructive diplomatic process with America and all our partners. It is vital to have stable support for our army and all our planned defence operations and deep strikes."
The White House said the US proposal, backed by President Donald Trump, was "good" for both Russia and Ukraine.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been working on the plan for a month.
"It’s ongoing and it’s in flux, but the president supports this plan. It’s a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe that it should be acceptable to both sides," she told reporters.
Zelenskyy’s office said he expected to discuss the points directly with Trump in the coming days.
Details of the plan, reported to contain 28 points, have been reported widely in Western media.
Information suggests Ukraine is asked to concede to Russia's demands, receiving little in return.
On territory, the plan reportedly calls for the "recognition of Crimea and other regions that the Russians have taken."
Russia's army occupies around a fifth of the country, much of it ravaged by years of fighting.
The Kremlin claims to have annexed five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in 2022 and Crimea in 2014.
Moscow has previously demanded that Ukraine completely withdraw its troops from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in exchange for freezing the front line in the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
Russia says captured Kupiansk
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, visited an army command post as Russia’s military claimed to have recaptured the key eastern city of Kupiansk.
Russian General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov told Putin that Russian forces had taken Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region and advanced in several other areas.
He said troops had seized 80 percent of the nearby town of Vovchansk, located close to the Russian border, and 70 percent of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region.
He added that Pokrovsk serves as an important logistics hub for Ukrainian operations.
Ukraine rejected Moscow’s claims, saying Russia was "hiding the critical losses of the Russian army" and insisting that Vovchansk and Pokrovsk remain contested.
Independent verification of battlefield claims remains difficult due to the ongoing war, now in its fourth year.
Zelenskyy said earlier that ceding territory would endanger Ukraine’s future.
"It is a matter of our country’s survival," he said.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, stressed that any peace deal must have the agreement of both Kiev and Brussels, adding: "In this war, there is one aggressor and one victim."
