Zelensky facing ‘growing pressure’ from US to accept Trump's plan to end Ukraine war: Report

The US administration has reportedly ramped up pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to acquiesce to major territorial losses and other concessions stipulated in his American counterpart Donald Trump’s so-called peace plan.

Two unnamed Ukrainian officials were cited by the news website Axios as saying that Zelensky is facing “growing pressure” from Washington after a recent meeting between Trump’s advisors and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the peace plan, which reportedly involved Ukraine’s cession of the entire Donbas region in exchange for strong security guarantees from the US to prevent future Russian military operations.

“The US offer had worsened, from Kiev's perspective, after Trump's advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held a five-hour meeting with Putin last week in the Kremlin,” a Ukrainian official was quoted as saying by Axios.

The official said Witkoff and Kushner seemed to want a clear "yes" from Zelensky when they discussed the plan with him in a two-hour call on Saturday.

"It felt like the US was trying to sell us in different ways the Russian desire to take the whole of Donbas and that the Americans wanted Zelensky to accept all of it in the phone call," the Ukrainian official added.

Another Ukrainian official told Axios that the US proposal included harsher terms than previous versions on issues like territory and control of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, and it left key questions on security guarantees unanswered .

"There are major things about territory which need to be discussed more: who controls what, who stays where, who withdraws, and if Ukraine withdraws from the contact line, how to make sure that Russia does the same and [doesn't continue] with the fighting."

The Ukrainian official underlined that the US side seemed to expect Zelensky to “simply agree over the phone.”

US, Ukraine officials meet for 'peace' talks as Russia gains ground

Ukrainian negotiators are meeting with US officials in Florida to discuss a Washington proposed ceasefire plan.

Moreover, Zelensky met in London on Monday with the leaders of the UK, France and Germany to project a joint position on Trump's plan.

Axios cited American and Ukrainian officials as saying that the Trump administration saw Zelensky's meeting on Downing Street as an unhelpful attempt to buy time in the negotiations over the so-called peace plan.

Ukrainian officials said they feel the US is trying to “peel Zelensky away from the European leaders” so they can pressure him more effectively.

The officials said that while the Trump administration is pressing Zelensky to move fast, the Europeans are advising caution and patience.

In a briefing with reporters, Zelensky said Ukraine and the European powers will give the US an updated counterproposal on Tuesday, adding, "Russia insists that we give up territory. We do not want to give anything up. That is exactly what we are fighting for. The Americans are currently looking for a compromise.”

For months, the Ukrainian president has publicly stated that Moscow would “derail” any diplomatic initiative. Yet the ongoing US pressure campaign, combined with Russia’s continued military successes, suggests that Washington itself may have concluded the conflict could not be resolved on Ukraine’s terms.

Moscow maintains that it is open to authentic negotiations, but insists that any agreement has to address the security concerns that led to its 2022 military operation in Ukraine, which was launched after Kiev failed to implement previous Minsk accords and continued to pursue NATO integration.

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