Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free

Ukraine is coming under intense pressure to quickly accept a sweeping peace plan drawn up by the Trump administration with Moscow to end Russia’s war in the country, according to Ukrainian officials.

The officials and a person familiar with the matter compared the US approach to its aggressive push for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept an onerous deal on mineral rights earlier this year.

The 28-point peace plan, endorsed by President Donald Trump on Thursday and developed by US and Russian negotiators, envisages major concessions by Kyiv that would cross its long-standing red lines.

The Ukrainian officials said the Trump administration had told Zelenskyy and other people in his team that the White House was working to an “aggressive” timeline to finalise the proposal in order to bring the war to an end before the close of the year.

They added that US officials expect ​Zelenskyy to sign the agreement “before Thanksgiving” on Thursday next week, with the aim of presenting a peace deal in Moscow later this month and concluding the process by early December.

That timeline appears highly unlikely to be achieved since officials in Zelenskyy’s office said there were several points that were clear red lines for Kyiv.

They added they were working on counter proposals to present to the US side. Ukrainian civil society is also likely to push back against any deal that is perceived as capitulation or more favourable to Moscow.

“It’s minerals deal 2.0,” said a senior Ukrainian official, referring to the contentious accord between Kyiv and Washington thrashed out over several months earlier this year that gave the US rights to Ukraine’s critical minerals.

Kyiv viewed the minerals deal as necessary to bring the Trump administration around to its side and secure support in its fight against Russia.

Zelenskyy’s office said on Thursday that the US had formally handed Ukraine the peace plan.

According to people with knowledge of the proposal, it would require Ukraine to cede land under its control in the eastern Donbas region, cut the size of its armed forces by half and abandon vital categories of weaponry.

Zelenskyy’s office said: “The president of Ukraine has officially received from the American side a draft plan which, in the American side’s assessment, could help reinvigorate diplomacy.”

It added Kyiv had “agreed to work on the plan’s provisions in a way that would bring about a just end to the war” and that Zelenskyy expected to talk to Trump in the coming days about “the existing diplomatic opportunities and the key points required to achieve peace”.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and US secretary of state Marco Rubio had been “quietly” working on the peace plan for the past month.

“The president supports this plan,” she added. “It’s a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe that it should be acceptable to both sides, and we’re working very hard to get it done.”

The EU has responded to the plan by calling for Europe and Ukraine to be “on board” in the negotiations. “We haven’t heard of any concessions on the Russian side,” Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s high representative for foreign policy, said.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was focused on a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine, adding: “That’s premised on the principle . . . that the future of Ukraine must be determined by Ukraine and we must never lose sight of that principle.”

The US initiative also comes as Zelenskyy’s political position has been weakened by a spiralling corruption scandal that has forced out two ministers.

Zelenskyy earlier on Thursday met a US military delegation led by secretary of the army Daniel Driscoll, a rising star at the Pentagon and close ally of vice-president JD Vance.

The Ukrainian president confirmed later in a post on X that he had discussed the peace plan with Driscoll.

US army spokesperson Colonel Dave Butler told reporters in Kyiv that Driscoll and Zelenskyy “agreed on an aggressive timeline for signature” on the peace plan. “It’ll be an agreement between the US and the Ukrainians for starters,” he said.

Another US official said Driscoll brought forward his planned trip to Ukraine by about a month after the White House asked him last week to “help kick-start peace negotiations and to serve as a fact-finding mission”.

The official added the army secretary was also planning to engage with the Russians so “he can have the same conversations on their end to get us toward that peace”.

Zelenskyy is coming under pressure to sign up to the Trump administration’s diplomatic push as Ukrainian troops lose ground to Moscow’s forces in the east of the country and Russian missile strikes wreak havoc on the country’s energy infrastructure.

Until now, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stated that concessions such as ceding territory under its forces’ control would be unacceptable to the country’s public.

Opposition groups in Ukraine have called for the removal of Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff Andriy Yermak as well as the resignation of the entire government.

The Ukrainian president was set to hold a party meeting on Thursday evening, with MPs telling the Financial Times they had been asked to refrain from posing “political” questions, in a sign of tension with Zelenskyy.

They added that dozens support Yermak’s ouster and deeper personnel changes.

Additional reporting by Amy Mackinnon, James Politi and Anna Gross