US Proposal Calls on Kyiv to Surrender Occupied Territories and Reduce Its Army

Ukraine has received a new peace proposal from the United States that requires Kyiv to concede territories occupied by Russia and to reduce its army to less than half, a senior official familiar with the proposal reported on Wednesday.

The source, who requested anonymity, explained that the draft proposal stipulates "recognition of Crimea and other areas controlled by Russia" and "reducing the army to 400,000 soldiers."

The source continued: "We are receiving signals that lead us to believe we must agree to this proposal."

At least 25 people were killed and more than 90 others injured on Wednesday in one of the worst Russian strikes on western Ukraine, particularly in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Ternopil.

The Kremlin declined to comment on Wednesday regarding reports published by the American site Axios indicating that Washington and Moscow are preparing a peace plan to end the war that has been ongoing in Ukraine for nearly four years, amidst a climate of secrecy.

The discussion of the new American proposal came after a meeting between Zelensky and Erdogan in Ankara, where the Ukrainian president expressed hope to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia "by the end of the year."

A Ukrainian official stated that the meeting, held without Russian attendance, aims to "re-engage" the United States in the stalled peace process, although American envoy Steve Witkoff was not present, as Russia continues its strikes on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that these strikes demonstrate that "pressure on Russia has not been sufficient."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga sarcastically remarked: "This is what Russian 'peace plans' actually look like."

For his part, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed his "shock" on Wednesday regarding the Russian airstrike on Ternopil.

Turk stated in a statement that the recent attacks "painfully highlighted the horrors of powerful long-range missiles accompanied by the increasing use of drone swarms by Russian forces" in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the "massive intensification" of Russian strikes. He commented at a press conference: "This has nothing to do with military objectives; it is pure terrorism against the Ukrainian civilian population."

Since returning to the White House at the beginning of the year, US President Donald Trump has positioned himself as a mediator in this conflict, although Washington has been a major military and financial supporter of Kyiv over the past four years.

However, Trump's efforts have not led to a cessation of hostilities, and the US president imposed sanctions on the Russian oil sector in October.

Despite numerous rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine this year in Istanbul, the positions of both sides remain completely opposed regarding peace terms and the establishment of a ceasefire.

Russia, which controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, demands that Kyiv concede five regions and abandon its project to join NATO. Kyiv rejects these demands and calls for the deployment of Western forces in the remaining territories under its control, a notion that Russia considers unacceptable.

Kyiv's desire to resume negotiations comes at a very difficult time for the Ukrainian army.

The city of Pokrovsk in the east appears on the verge of falling, Russian soldiers have taken control of the Dnipropetrovsk region this summer, and they have been advancing for several days in the Zaporizhia region (south), where the front has been largely stagnant for two years.