Trump tells Ukraine to sign peace deal in days as Zelensky warns of ‘most difficult moment in history’
Donald Trump has warned Ukraine to agree to his widely criticised peace proposal by Thursday 27 November – or lose access to US intelligence and weapons.
Volodymyr Zelensky said his nation faces “one of the most difficult moments in our history” as he considers a 28-point US-brokered plan that appears to heavily favour Russia.
Kyiv would have to cede land, agree not to join Nato, and accept limits on the size of its military – while Russia would be welcomed back into the international community.
“Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner,” Mr Zelensky said in a bleak address to the nation, vowing that he would not betray his country.
The US has threatened to cut intelligence-sharing and the supply of weapons to Ukraine in an effort to pressure it into agreeing to the framework, according to Reuters sources.
Mr Trump confirmed he had given Ukraine until next Thursday – the United States’ Thanksgiving holiday – to agree to the deal.
“I’ve had a lot of deadlines, but if things are working well, you tend to extend the deadlines,” the US president told Fox News Radio. “But Thursday, we think, is an appropriate time.”
Russian president Vladimir Putin said the US proposals could be the basis of a resolution of the conflict, but that if Kyiv turned down the plan then Russian forces would advance further.
“I believe that it can be used as the basis for a final peaceful settlement,” Putin told senior officials at a meeting of the Russian Security Council.
Putin said that Ukraine was against the plan but that neither Kyiv nor European powers understood the reality that Russian forces were advancing in Ukraine and would continue to advance unless there was peace.
“If Kyiv does not want to discuss President Trump’s proposal and refuses to do so, then both they and the European warmongers should understand that the events that took place in Kupiansk will inevitably be repeated in other key sectors of the front,” he said. “And in general, that works for us.”
The Kremlin urged Ukraine to negotiate “now” or risk losing more territory, claiming that thousands of Ukrainian troops were trapped in Kharkiv amid a Russian advance in the east.
“The space for the freedom of decision-making is shrinking for him as territories are lost,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, while claiming that Moscow was yet to receive anything official from the US on the actual proposition.
European leaders have raised concerns about the plan, which was drawn up without their involvement.
