US pressing Ukraine to accept Trump's plan to end war with Russia
Iran Press TV
Friday, 21 November 2025 6:14 PM
The United States has threatened to cut intelligence sharing and weapons supplies for Ukraine in a bid to press it into accepting President Donald Trump's proposed plan aimed to end nearly four years of war with Russia, two sources familiar with the issue say.
One of the sources told Reuters on Friday that Washington wanted Kiev to sign the framework by next Thursday.
Kiev confirmed receiving a new draft plan from the US on Thursday without giving details on its contents. The Ukrainian leadership expressed readiness to discuss it, saying "in the American side's assessment" the draft "could help reinvigorate diplomacy."
Moscow, however, said it received no drafts and declined to comment on "conflicting" reports about the plan, until it sees something concrete.
"I think that commenting on leaks that are contradictory and contain conflicting elements is pointless. When we have some official information, when we receive it via a relevant channel, naturally, we will always be open to work," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.
"For several days now, Western media outlets have been releasing various leaks and drafts - whatever this could be called - with different details, in different sequences, under various labels," she said, referring to the US plan.
"We have official channels of communication with Washington. The Foreign Ministry has received no information, plans or drafts."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff were in contact with both Moscow and Kiev regarding the plan floated by Washington.
Zakharova reiterated Russia's readiness to engage in negotiations with Ukraine.
"We are open to discussing issues of the settlement of the situation in Ukraine which have been and are part of our dialogue at various levels," she said, adding, "We have received nothing resembling what was published in the Western media."
According to media reports, the 28-point plan includes the recognition of Russia's sovereignty over Crimea, Donbass and other territories Ukraine will have to cede, downsizing Ukraine's army and stripping it of long-range weapons, and giving up on its NATO aspirations.
The three points are among the key points of the plan that Ukraine's mission at the UN has already rejected.
Deputy Permanent Representative Khristina Gayovyshyn, however, stressed that the Kiev government is ready to discuss the provisions of the draft.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said there was "nothing new" in Russia-US negotiations on the war. He told reporters on Friday that the Russian government has received no information about Kiev agreeing to negotiate on the US-sponsored plan.
Ukraine's European backers have rejected the reported clauses of the settlement plan, insisting that any agreement must reflect the positions of both Brussels and Kiev.
The European Union is now reportedly working on a "counteroffer" that is more favorable to Kiev.
'Russian forces take full control of Kupyansk'
The latest developments come as the chief of Russia's general staff, Valery Gerasimov, announced that Russian forces have taken control of the city of Kupyansk, a key logistical hub near the Oskol River, in northeastern Ukraine.
"Formations of the West grouping have liberated the city of Kupyansk," Gerasimov said on Thursday during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a military command post.
For his part, Putin hailed the performance of Russian troops, stating that about 15 battalions of Ukraine's Armed Forces were surrounded in and around Kupyansk.
Kiev has denied the report saying, "Kupyansk is under the control of Ukraine's defense forces."
Ukraine's General Staff also denied any major setbacks in Volchansk and Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk).
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, following Kiev's failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and Moscow's recognition of the People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Putin said one of the goals of the military operation was to "de-Nazify" Ukraine.
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