U.S. Peace Plan Details Emerge Following Reports on Secret Talks

Previous reports surfaced that the Trump administration has been quietly developing a new framework for resolving the war in Ukraine and has been in direct contact with Russian officials, Orda.kz reports.

Details of the plan later emerged.

According to the Financial Times, citing anonymous sources, the proposal includes:

• Surrender of the remaining part of Donbass and reduction of the Ukrainian army by half
• Giving official status to the Russian language
• Recognition of the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate
• The curtailment of American military aid
• A ban on the deployment of foreign troops

The outlet notes that "officials in Kyiv" who reviewed the document believe it largely matches Moscow's maximalist demands and is unacceptable without major revisions.

At the same time, according to NBC News, Trump approved the plan. 

A senior U.S. administration official told the outlet that the document has been prepared in recent weeks with participation from Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. 

The group consulted both Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Ukrainian officials during the process.

A source told the network that the plan includes security guarantees for both sides and proposes terms that the Trump administration believes could establish a lasting peace.

Against that backdrop, a US official told Axios that Witkoff had planned to visit Ankara on Wednesday, 19 November, for a trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

The meeting was postponed after it became clear that Zelenskyy was not interested in discussing the US plan. According to a US official, Zelenskyy had arrived in Ankara with a different proposal, prepared with Ukraine's European partners, which Russia will never accept.

A Ukrainian official said the meeting was delayed because Zelenskyy requested that the plan be discussed in a broader format involving European countries.

Another US official cited the domestic political scandal in Ukraine, stemming from a corruption investigation involving people close to Zelenskyy, as an additional reason for the postponement.

The official said US President Donald Trump had authorised Witkoff to pursue a deal with Zelenskyy in Türkiye and supported the decision to cancel the meeting.

We are now going to wait. The ball is in Zelenskyy's court,the US official said, adding that Zelenskyy is welcome to travel to Washington to discuss the new US plan if he wishes.

Original Author: Raushan Korzhumbekova