EditU.S.-Ukraine peace framework advances, but Putin’s dismissal of Kyiv leaves Ukraine sidelined
With Zelenskyy sidelined in the Russian presidents’s calculus, the path to peace remains as treacherous as ever
Diplomatic manoeuvring around a potential end to the war in Ukraine intensified this week, with US and Ukrainian negotiators in Geneva producing a revised peace framework that Russian President Vladimir Putin cautiously endorsed as a “basis for future agreements”. Yet in his most pointed remarks to date, Putin effectively excluded Ukraine from any direct role in the settlement, declaring the Kyiv government “illegitimate” and insisting that any deal must bypass President Volodymyr Zelenskyy entirely.
Speaking in Bishkek on Thursday after a summit of former Soviet republics, Putin confirmed Moscow had received the updated 28-point outline, now divided into four thematic components covering security guarantees, territorial issues, military limits and economic measures.
“In general, we agree that this could be the basis for future agreements,” he said, noting that the revisions appeared to reflect some Russian positions, including a block on Ukrainian NATO membership and curbs on Kyiv’s armed forces.
But Putin’s qualified approval was overshadowed by his uncompromising stance on Ukraine’s leadership. He reiterated long-held Kremlin claims that Zelenskyy’s term expired in May 2024 without elections – impossible under martial law amid the invasion – rendering the Ukrainian president’s authority void in Moscow’s eyes.
“It is legally impossible to sign a deal with Kyiv,” Putin stated flatly. “This is practically impossible. Impossible legally.” Instead, he argued, any agreement would need to be negotiated directly with the United States, with international recognition of Russia’s territorial gains, including the 2014 annexation of Crimea and control over four eastern and southern regions claimed as annexed in 2022.
The declaration amounts to a de facto erasure of Ukraine from the bargaining table, forcing Kyiv into the position of a passive recipient of terms hammered out by Washington and Moscow. It echoes Putin’s broader narrative that Ukrainians and Russians are “one people”, a view he reinforced in June 2025 by declaring “all of Ukraine is ours”.
For Zelenskyy, whose government has repeatedly affirmed it will never cede sovereignty or territory, the message is a non-starter. In a nightly address on Thursday, the Ukrainian leader announced plans for a joint U.S.-Ukraine delegation meeting later this week to refine security guarantees, vowing his team was “well prepared and focused on meaningful work”.
Earlier, he described Putin’s demands as seeking “legal recognition to what he has stolen”, warning that such concessions would shatter the principle of territorial integrity.
Putin’s exclusionary rhetoric comes as Russian forces hold just over 19 per cent of Ukrainian territory – about 115,600 square kilometres – and have advanced in 2025 at their quickest pace since the war’s early days. He coupled the leadership dismissal with battlefield ultimatums: Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the entirety of the four annexed regions (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia), despite incomplete Russian control in all of them, before any ceasefire.
“Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the territories they hold, and then the fighting will cease,” Putin said. “If they don’t leave, then we shall achieve this by armed means. That’s it.” He projected confidence, claiming a “positive dynamic” across the front lines and readiness to “fight to the last Ukrainian” if needed.
EU plan met with disdain
The comments underscore the chasm between Moscow’s maximalist vision and the positions of Ukraine and its European allies. The original US plan, leaked last week, had already rattled Kyiv and European capitals by seeming to concede key Russian red lines on NATO and territorial control. When Germany, France and Britain tabled a counter-proposal emphasising Ukrainian sovereignty and phased Russian withdrawals, it was met with disdain: Moscow dismissed it as a “non-starter”, while Washington largely sidelined it in favour of bilateral U.S.-Ukraine revisions.
European leaders, coordinating a parallel diplomatic track, have ramped up military aid to Kyiv in recent weeks, from Leopard tanks to air defence systems, while expressing wariness of any “freeze” that locks in current front lines without justice for war crimes.
President Donald Trump, fulfilling his pledge to resolve Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two, has pursued direct channels with Putin, including an August summit in Alaska. His special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is due in Moscow early next week to build on the Geneva output. Trump has hinted at “big progress”, but Zelenskyy has cautioned against deals that betray Ukrainian dignity, facing what he called “one of the most difficult moments in our history”.
A leaked recording of a call between Witkoff and a Kremlin aide, in which the envoy appeared to coach Moscow on pitching its demands to Trump, has only heightened suspicions in Kyiv of U.S partiality.
On the ground, the war grinds on: Russian assaults continue in Donetsk, while Ukrainian drones probe deeper into Russian territory. Both sides reinforce amid the talks, highlighting the fragility of diplomacy without enforceable pauses.
With Reuters and ABCnews, edited by g.g.
Caption: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a press conference after the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit at the Yntymak Ordo Presidential Administration in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 27 November 2025. EPA/ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN / POOL
Updated: November 28, 2025 - 07:53
