Ukraine edges toward US-brokered deal with Russia: Report
Iran Press TV
Wednesday, 26 November 2025 3:33 AM
Ukraine has quietly accepted the bulk of a United States-drafted plan aimed at ending the nearly-four-year conflict with Russia, a report says as Washington is said to be intensifying pressure on Kiev.
Ukrainian officials have endorsed a revised 19-point version of the plan, removing Washington's most contentious provisions, including explicit recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, various Western media outlets reported on Tuesday.
Final territorial discussions, however, would be left to direct talks between US and Russian officials, they added.
According to Western media leaks, the Trump administration delivered a 28-point proposal to Kiev last week.
The reports came after Reuters said Washington had threatened to curtail weapons and intelligence flows unless Kiev signed the framework by next Thursday.
Sources told ABC News that US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll had held unpublicized talks with a Russian delegation in the United Arab Emirates, following several rounds of discussions between American and Ukrainian officials in Geneva. The negotiations were led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and regional envoy Steve Witkoff.
"The Ukrainians have agreed to the peace deal," one US official was quoted as saying. "There are a few minor points still to sort out, but they've agreed to the deal."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, however, emphasized that no final agreement existed yet and that Russia would not engage in public posturing based on alleged Western media leaks.
"We operate professionally, not leaking information before formal agreements are reached," he said, noting that Russia awaited official communication through established diplomatic channels.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed the sentiment, dismissing contradictory Western reports and reiterating Moscow's readiness for genuine negotiations.
US proposals reportedly include recognition of Russian sovereignty over Donbass and Crimea, which have joined the Russian Federation by popular vote.
They also feature a drastic reduction of Ukraine's military capabilities, restrictions on long-range weapons, and a formal abandonment of NATO membership aspirations, longstanding Russian demands that Kiev had previously rejected outright.
The European Union has, meanwhile, been scrambling to craft a "counteroffer" more favorable to Kiev, The Independent reported.
The diplomatic maneuvering comes as Russia consolidates military gains.
Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov has announced that the country's armed forces have liberated the strategically important city of Kupyansk, a major logistical hub near the Oskol River.
President Vladimir Putin has hailed the operation, noting that approximately 15 Ukrainian battalions were encircled during recent advances.
Kiev, though, denied losing control of the city, but has offered no evidence contradicting Russia's battlefield reports, a pattern observers say reflects Ukraine's increasing difficulty in sustaining defensive lines amid dwindling manpower.
For months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly claimed that Moscow would "derail" any diplomatic initiative. Yet the ongoing US pressure campaign, combined with Russia's continued military successes, suggests that Washington itself may have concluded the conflict could not be resolved on Ukraine's terms.
Moscow maintains that it is open to authentic negotiations, but insists that any agreement has to address the security concerns that led to its 2022 military operation in Ukraine, launched after Kiev failed to implement previous Minsk accords and continued to pursue NATO integration.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
