Kyiv rocked by US plan to end the war

ZELENSKY CALLS EUROPEAN ALLIES FOR SUPPORT

- 

Ukraine scrambled yesterday to respond to a US plan to end the war that includes many of Russia’s hardline demands, with Kyiv saying it had discussed the next steps with several key European allies.

While President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back against the 28-point plan, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has welcomed the proposal, which would force Ukraine to give up land, cut its army and pledge never to join Nato.

The United States bypassed Europe with the plan, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X he had “outlined the logic of our further steps” in a call with European counterparts, including from France, Britain and the EU's foreign policy chief.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper tweeted separately that “Ukraine must determine its future”.

European leaders were due to meet yesterday on the sidelines of a G20 summit in South Africa to make it clear “that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine’, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.