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10:22 23.11.2025 •
The Trump administration has told Ukrainian and European officials there is little room to negotiate on its plan to end Russia’s war, as the US heaps pressure on Zelenskyy to sign a drawn up deal by Thursday.
US army secretary Daniel Driscoll told European ambassadors and western officials at a volatile meeting in Kyiv late on Friday that he was “optimistic that now is the time for peace” — but warned that Washington would show little flexibility, ‘Financial Times’ reports.
“We are not negotiating details,” he said, according to a senior European official in the meeting at the Kyiv residence of US Chargé d’Affaires, Julie Davis. One senior European official described the tone of the meeting as “nauseating”.
News of the Kyiv discussion, coupled with President Donald Trump’s comments on Friday that Ukraine would “have to like” Washington’s deal, prompted late-night discussions among European leaders gathered for the G20 meeting in Johannesburg about how to intervene.
“It is time for the Trump whisperers to start shouting,” said one official briefed on the discussions.
The meeting in the ornate mansion in Kyiv’s historic Podil district came a day after the US’s 28-point plan surfaced. The discussion went sideways quickly, according to European officials present.
Davis told the group gathering in the mansion that “as much as we can support Ukraine continuing the war, there are limits”, said one ambassador present.
“There are strong indications that Russia has a strong industrial base and it is a matter of time until Ukraine has to cut a deal,” she said, according to the ambassador.
Driscoll showed up late and laced his comments with profanities, according to people present. “We need to get this shit done,” he said.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz, French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer are “looking for a shit”.
Pic.: AI from inosmi.ru
A draft proposal to end the war in Ukraine advanced by the Trump administration has drew swift resistance from Ukraine and several of its European allies.
The plan, developed by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and shared privately with Ukrainian officials in recent days, reportedly includes provisions that would significantly downsize its military, forgo certain long-range weapons, accept Russian control over occupied territory and require Ukraine to withdraw from the roughly 14% the Donbas region that is not under Russian control. That region would reportedly become a demilitarized zone under the plan.
The Ukrainian officials have dismissed its core elements, calling it “absurd” and saying it amounted to “unconditional capitulation.”
Ukrainian MP Iryna Gerashchenko said the proposal “duplicates Russia’s 2022 demands for capitulation” and suggested it was meant to probe Kyiv’s willingness to concede ground, according to the Washington Post.
European leaders delivered similar messages. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that “peace cannot be capitulation. We do not want the capitulation of Ukraine.” Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said Europe “is the main supporter of Ukraine,” noting that none of the region’s governments had been involved in drafting the proposal.
From German ‘Bild’:
“Ukraine is in a very bad position”
“The honest US military assessment is that Ukraine is in a very bad position and now is the best time for peace,” Driscoll continued.
He added that “security guarantees are part of this” US deal and would be discussed with European and Ukrainian leaders in the coming days.
The senior European official at the meeting said Davis and Driscoll insisted that Zelenskyy sign the deal before the American Thanksgiving Day holiday, on Thursday.
“We have a narrow window for peace — president Trump wants peace now,” Driscoll said, according to a readout provided to the Financial Times by a senior western official present. “The more cooks in the kitchen, the harder it is to handle.”
In a television address earlier on Friday, Zelenskyy warned the nation that it risked having to choose between the loss of US support or the loss of its dignity in a harsh peace with Russia.
The Ukrainian leader’s comments came a day after Driscoll presented him with the 28-point plan that crossed several of Kyiv’s red lines and were depicted by European allies as a “capitulation” to Moscow.
“Now Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice — either loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner,” Zelenskyy said. The country faced “one of the most difficult moments in our history”.
Trump responded to Zelenskyy’s comments in the Oval Office on Friday, saying the Ukrainian president would “have to like” the US plan. “At some point, he’s going to have to accept something.”
The president also referred to his confrontation with Zelenskyy in the White House in February, when vice-president JD Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of ingratitude.
“You remember not so long ago, right in the Oval Office, I said ‘you don’t have the cards’,” Trump said. “I thought he should have made a deal a year ago, two years ago.”
Lembit Öpik, a former UK Member of Parliament:
A “shocking” message for Europe
EU ambassadors and officials at the Kyiv residence meeting described the messages from the US as “shocking”.
One western official said the diplomats at the meeting believed the US was using Zelenskyy’s political weakness amid a domestic corruption scandal to try to push a deal on Ukraine quickly.
As the meeting came to a close, the EU ambassadors argued that instead of cutting a deal now, more pressure on Russia was needed. The Americans said what was on offer was the best Ukraine could expect.
“It turns out this is even worse than we thought,” said another senior European official briefed on the meeting.
Reports of the Kyiv meeting prompted hastily arranged bilateral talks between European leaders gathered in Johannesburg for a G20 summit.
Meetings that went on into the night included Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and focused on finding a way to convince Trump to slow down his demand for Ukraine to accept the proposal.
Russia’s president says US-led plan ‘could form the basis of a final peace settlement’, bolstering concerns in Europe about one-sided nature of US-brokered deal, ‘The Guardian’ stresses.
Vladimir Putin says Ukraine is being unrealistic if it does not accept the US plan to end the war, declaring: “Ukraine is against it. Apparently, Ukraine and its European allies are still under illusions and dream of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield”. The positive response from the Russian president adds weight to the views of European and Ukrainian officials that the deal amounts to a “capitulation”.
Addressing Russia’s National Security Council, Putin called the 28-point plan “a new version” and “a modernised plan” of what was discussed with the US ahead of his Alaska summit with Donald Trump in August, and said Moscow has received it. Putin said the plan “could form the basis of a final peace settlement”.
Vladimir Putin said during a visit to the West Group’s command post: “Let’s be clear about the nature of the Ukrainian political leadership. Since March 2024, it has ceased to be a legitimate government. It is a group of individuals, a criminal organisation that has usurped power under the pretext of continuing the war with Russia and is now clinging to it for personal enrichment. This is now a matter of public record, confirmed by an anti-corruption investigation within Ukraine itself.
It should be obvious to everyone that these people, sitting on their golden thrones, are hardly thinking about the future of their country, the ordinary citizens of Ukraine, their officer corps, or especially their common soldiers. No. They have other priorities.
But we have our own objectives and our own agenda. Our principal goal remains the unconditional achievement of the special military operation’s aims and the fulfilment of the duties our Fatherland and the people of Russia have entrusted to us. The people of Russia are counting on us.”
Zelenskyy has reacted to the deal by saying Ukraine faces one of the most difficult moments in its history. Agreeing to the plan, which would force it to give up territory and make other painful concessions, could leave Ukraine “without freedom, dignity and justice”, Zelenskyy said in a sombre 10-minute speech outside the presidential palace.
US vice president JD Vance has said that it was a “fantasy” to think Ukraine could win if the US just gave Kyiv more money or weapons or imposed more Russian sanctions.
Zelenskyy has signalled Ukraine must confront the possibility of losing US support if it makes a stand. Sounding out his European allies, Zelenskyy spoke on Friday by phone to the leaders of Germany, France and the UK.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz, French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer (photo) assured Zelenskyy of “their unchanged and full support,” Merz’s office said:
…Yes, the Kyiv regime is confused. Yes, Europe is confused.
For a simple reason – they are faced with the “American Plan” for victory… in a someone else's war!
Let’s note, in Washington the plan is specifically called the “U.S. Ukrainian plan” (see photo above).
So, everybody still need to consult with Russia.
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