The United States has signaled to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine must accept a US-drafted framework to end the war with Russia that proposes Kyiv giving up territory and some weapons, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on 19 November.
The proposals include cutting the size of Ukraine's armed forces, among other things, the sources said. Washington wants Kyiv to accept the main points, the sources added.
According to a person familiar with the talks who spoke to CNN, the Trump administration has been quietly hammering out a new peace plan with Russia. Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy who has been at the center of the administration's talks with Moscow, has been leading the effort. The negotiations accelerated this week as the administration feels the Kremlin has signaled a renewed openness to a deal, the source said.
A senior official told Reuters that Kyiv has received "signals" about a package of US proposals to end the war that Washington has been discussing with Russia. However, Kyiv did not participate in preparing these proposals, the source noted.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and a top-level Pentagon delegation arrived on 19 November, morning in Ukraine "on a fact finding mission to meet with Ukrainian officials and discuss efforts to end the war," Army Spokesperson Col. Dave Butler said in a statement. The mission, at the direction of the president, was part of the White House effort to resuscitate peace talks, according to a separate source who is a US official.
Driscoll was expected to discuss battlefield conditions and weapons needs with Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials, as well as the nascent peace efforts, the official said.
In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote that he had the honor of meeting with Driscoll. Shmyhal expressed "gratitude" to the US for its "important support that saves the lives of Ukrainians every day." He added that he "presented to partners our developments in the field of defense innovations" and "focused on the next steps to implement the historic defense agreements reached by President Zelensky and President Trump."
Russian sources also confirmed to CNN that there are ongoing high-level contacts between US and Russian officials, including Witkoff. Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev went to the US in October to meet Witkoff and others and had what a Russian source told CNN were "very productive discussions."
According to an Axios report, the current draft being hashed out between Washington and Moscow is focused on 28 points, including security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe, as well as future US relations with Russia and Ukraine.
The Kremlin on Wednesday downplayed the Axios report. When asked about it, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that there are "no new developments to report so far" regarding an end to the war. "There were discussions in Anchorage. Beyond what was discussed in Anchorage, there have been no updates yet," he said, referencing a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump in Alaska in August.
According to a source familiar with the talks who spoke to CNN, it remains unclear whether Europe and Ukraine will participate in the negotiations regarding this plan, as well as whether they would support such a plan.
The discussions come as the Trump administration has tried repeatedly to find an end to the war, only for talks to fall apart after Putin refused to make substantial commitments to the effort.
"I thought that was going to be my easy one, because I have a good relationship with President Putin, but I'm a little disappointed in President Putin right now," Trump said during remarks at a US-Saudi investment conference Wednesday. "He knows that."
After Trump spoke with Putin by phone last month, he was so convinced there was enough progress made that he announced he would soon be traveling to Budapest for an in-person summit with the Russian leader. But just five days later, the summit was off and new sanctions on Moscow — the first of Trump's second administration — were on.
US officials told CNN that in the time between, the president and his administration came to the conclusion that Putin's stance on ending the war had not significantly shifted from the last time he met Trump on a US air base in Alaska.
Previous US peace talks had focused on freezing Russian and Ukrainian forces along current battle lines. Europe and Ukraine backed the plan as a jumping off point for fresh negotiations, while the Kremlin rejected the proposal, arguing they were not interested in a ceasefire but a longer-term peace deal.
The White House declined to respond to a request for comment.
