EditEuropeans push back at U.S. peace plan for Ukraine seen as tantamount to capitulation
The acceleration in U.S. diplomacy comes at an awkward time for Kyiv, with Zelenskyy's government undermined by a corruption scandal
European countries pushed back on Thursday against a U.S.-backed peace plan for Ukraine that sources said would require Kyiv to give up more land and partially disarm, conditions long seen by Ukraine’s allies as tantamount to capitulation.
Two sources said Washington had signalled to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Kyiv must accept a U.S.-drafted framework to end the war, which includes territorial concessions and curbs to Ukraine’s armed forces. The sources spoke to Reuters on condition they were not identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Ukraine expected to give up land, some arms under US peace plan
The acceleration in U.S. diplomacy comes at an awkward time for Kyiv, with its troops on the back foot on the battlefield and Zelenskyy’s government undermined by a corruption scandal. Parliament fired two cabinet ministers on Wednesday, including energy minister Herman Galushchenko.
Herman Galushchenko: the minister at the centre of Ukraine’s biggest wartime graft scandal
Moscow played down any new U.S. initiative.
“Consultations are not currently underway. 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 U.S. 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.
‘Peace cannot be capitulation’, says France
European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels did not comment in much detail about a U.S. plan that has not been made public, 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.”
Finnish Foreign Minister and current OSCE Chair Elina Valtonen sharply criticized the U.S. peace plan, calling it unacceptable for both Ukraine and its European partners.
“It look as if it was written more in Moscow. They very clearly ‘throw the UN Charter off the table’,” Valtonen said.
EU chief diplomat Kaia Kallas noted that the EU welcomes efforts to end the war in Ukraine, but any such plan must involve Ukraine and Europe.
“So far we have not heard of any concessions from Russia. If Russia really wanted peace, it could have agreed to an unconditional ceasefire some time ago, but instead we are seeing strikes on civilians again. 93% of Russian targets are civilian infrastructure, that is, schools, hospitals, residential buildings – in order to kill as many people and cause as much suffering as possible,” Kallas noted.
The White House has not commented on the reported proposals. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said 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,” Rubio said.
A U.S. Army delegation, led by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and the Army’s Chief of Staff Randy George, was in Kyiv and expected to meet Zelenskyy late on Thursday.
They met Ukraine’s top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi late on Wednesday. Syrskyi said the best way to secure a just peace was to defend Ukraine’s airspace, extend its ability to strike deep into Russia and stabilise the front line.
Winter approaching
Russia has been pounding Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with nightly bombardments, killing civilians and causing power cuts as winter sets in. Authorities said 22 people were missing and 26 dead from airstrikes that destroyed an apartment block on Wednesday, one of the worst attacks in months.
In Ternopil in western Ukraine, far from the front, smoke was still rising from smouldering masonry as crews on cranes tried to make nearby buildings safe and uncover bodies. Toys, flowers and clothes were left in a small pile as a memorial to victims.
All night long, our rescuers worked in Ternopil, and search-and-rescue operations are still ongoing. 22 people are still missing – the effort to find them continues. More than 230 first responders from nine regions of Ukraine have been deployed. In some areas, work can only be… pic.twitter.com/3wrrdwIiNd
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 20, 2025
Ihor Cherepanskyi was searching for the body of his great-grandmother who lived on the sixth floor. He had run into the building to try to rescue her, but made it only as far as the fifth floor before the ceiling caved in.
“What kind of ‘strategic target’ is this?” he said.
Another Russian attack knocked out power for 400,000 Ukrainians. Ukraine said it had struck two Russian oil refineries.
With another winter approaching in Europe’s deadliest war in eight decades, Russian troops are poised to capture their first substantial city in nearly two years, the ruined eastern railway hub of Pokrovsk.
Ukraine said on Thursday it had received 1,000 bodies from Russia, and Russia said it had received 30 from Ukraine, in the latest swap of human remains from the battlefield.
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.
After the war’s early months when Ukraine fended off Russia’s assault on Kyiv and recaptured swathes of territory, the past three years have been an unrelenting grind along a 1,000-km (600-mile) front line, with huge losses on both sides.
A Ukrainian counterattack stalled in 2023. Since then Moscow has made slow progress, with the enemies separated across a charred no-man’s land, hunting each other’s forces with drones.
Trump, who returned to office this year vowing to swiftly end the war, has reoriented U.S. 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 Putin last month and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two main oil companies. Friday is the deadline for foreign buyers to wind down Russian oil purchases.
With Reuters, European pravda, edited by g.g.
Caption: French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot speaks to the media upon arrival for the EU Foreign Affairs Council, in Brussels, Belgium, 20 November 2025. EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs meet in Brussels to address Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, including a potential 20th sanctions package, the humanitarian and political situation in the Middle East, instability in Sudan and the Sahel, and to strengthen relations with ASEAN countries. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
Updated: November 20, 2025 - 17:04
