Ukraine faces 'difficult choice' as Trump demands acceptance of peace plan

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Ukraine risked losing its dignity and freedom over a US peace plan that endorses key Russian demands, a proposal Donald Trump said Kyiv should accept within a week.

The US president told Fox News Radio he believed Thursday was an appropriate deadline for Kyiv to accept the plan, confirming what two sources told Reuters.

Trump later told reporters that time was short given the approaching winter and need to end the bloodshed and that Zelenskyy would have to approve the plan. "He'll have to like it, and if he doesn't like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess," he said. "At some point he's going to have to accept something he hasn't accepted."

Recalling their fractious February meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump added: "You remember right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said, 'You don't have the cards'."

Washington's 28-point plan calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and renounce ambitions to join NATO. It also contains some proposals Moscow may object to and requires its forces to pull back from some areas they have captured, according to a draft seen by Reuters.

US Vice President JD Vance said late on Friday that any plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine should preserve Ukrainian sovereignty and be acceptable to both countries but that it was a "fantasy" to think Ukraine could win if the US were to give Kyiv more money or weapons or impose more sanctions on Moscow. 

Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who has refused to budge on Russia's key territorial and security demands, said on Friday the US plan could be the basis of a final resolution of the nearly four-year-old conflict. He said Kyiv was against the plan but neither it nor its European allies understood the reality of Russian advances in Ukraine.

'DIGNITY AND FREEDOM OF UKRAINIANS'

Zelenskyy, who has rejected the plan's terms in the past as capitulation, appealed to Ukrainians for unity and said he would never betray Ukraine.

"Now, Ukraine can face a very difficult choice — either losing dignity or risk losing a major partner," he said in a speech to the nation, adding: "I will fight 24/7 to ensure that at least two points in the plan are not overlooked – the dignity and freedom of Ukrainians."

Putin's investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said on Friday the US plan was aimed at preventing more Ukrainian deaths and loss of territory.

Several sources have told Reuters that the plan was the result of back-channel conversations between Dmitriev and Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy.

Two sources told Reuters that Washington had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons supplies to Ukraine if it does not accept the deal. A senior US official later said it was not accurate to say the US threatened to withhold intelligence.

In public, Zelenskyy, who spoke on Friday with the leaders of Britain, Germany and France as well as with Vance, has appeared careful not to reject the US plan or offend the Americans. "We value the efforts of the United States, President Trump, and his team aimed at ending this war," Zelenskyy said. "This must be a plan that ensures a real and dignified peace."

A poor deal for Ukraine could test the stability of its society after nearly four years of relentless warfare.