Jaroslav Lukiv,
Laura Gozziand
Paul Kirby,Europe digital editor
Senior Pentagon officials have arrived in Ukraine to “discuss efforts to end the war” with Russia, the US military says.
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll held talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and was to see President Volodymyr Zelensky later.
Reports had surfaced on Wednesday that the US and Russia had prepared a new proposed framework to end the war, requiring major concessions from Ukraine including giving up territory and dramatically shrinking its military.
The White House said President Donald Trump had grown “frustrated” with both Russia and Ukraine “for their refusal to commit to a peace agreement” and his team had been working on a “detailed and acceptable” peace plan.
A senior US official confirmed to the BBC that special envoy Steve Witkoff had been “quietly working” on a plan and that he had received input from both the Ukrainians and the Russians “on what terms are acceptable to them to end the war”.
“Both sides will have to make concessions, not just Ukraine,” the official said.
Details of the draft 28-point plan emerged more than three weeks after Witkoff and his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev are said to have spent three days in meetings in Miami, Florida.
Moscow has not confirmed or denied that a plan was worked out. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “contacts” had taken place with the US, but no “consultations or negotiations” were happening.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Axios, the Financial Times and Reuters have reported that the plans call for Kyiv to give up areas of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine that it still controls, to cut significantly the size of its armed forces and to forego many of its weapons.
Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out any territori
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