A Ukrainian serviceman in the frontline city of Kostyantynivka, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, 16 November 2025. Photo: EPA / AFU
A meeting in Kyiv between US and European officials to discuss the US-Russian authored peace plan for Ukraine on Friday has been described as “volatile”, by a source who spoke to the Financial Times (FT).
Saying that he was “optimistic that now is the time for peace”, US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll nevertheless warned the European delegation that Washington would show little flexibility, and refused to discuss the details of the plan during the briefing, the FT reported.
“As much as we can support Ukraine continuing the war, there are limits,” the US chargé d’affaires in Kyiv, Julie Davis, who hosted the meeting, told delegates. “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.”
Both Davis and Driscoll reiterated Trump’s demand that Zelensky sign the agreement before Thursday, when the US celebrates Thanksgiving.
One European official told the FT that the tone of the meeting had been “nauseating”. The general feeling among European officials was that Washington was taking advantage of Zelensky’s vulnerability in the wake of a corruption scandal involving several of his close associates to force him to acquiesce to a rushed peace agreement, the FT wrote.
With the message coming from the US making the situation increasingly desperate for Kyiv and with Europe looking ever more sidelined,
With Kyiv subject to a US ultimatum and Europe increasingly sidelined by its NATO ally, several European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met late into the night on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss ways they could slow down the process, the FT reported.
On Friday evening, Zelensky addressed Ukrainians in a video message, warning that the country faced “a difficult choice” in the coming days, whether to accept the latest US peace plan or brace itself for “a very tough winter”.
Under the 28-point plan, Ukraine would cede the whole of Crimea and Donbas to Russia, while the present line of contact in Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions would be frozen, essentially granting Moscow de facto control of large areas of both.
In return, Ukraine would be provided with “reliable security guarantees” by the US, and European fighter jets to defend the country from future invasion would be stationed in Poland. Meanwhile, sanctions would be lifted on Russia and it would be invited to rejoin the G8, while $100 billion in frozen Russian assets would be “invested in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine”, with the US to receive 50% of profits from the ventures.
