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Ukraine would need to give up long-range missiles and slash its military force by half under terms of deal, officials say
Arpan Rai,Alex CroftFriday 21 November 2025 04:09 GMTComments
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Volodymyr Zelensky will speak to Donald Trump after being presented with a draft peace deal that has been drafted by the US and Russia, without Ukraine’s involvement.
The U.S. president approved of a secret deal brokered between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev, that would reportedly force Ukraine to give up some of its arms and lease key territories to Russia.
“Our teams - Ukraine and the USA - will work on the points of the plan to end the war," Zelensky wrote on Telegram. "We are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work."
The deal would require Kyiv to cede control of the eastern Donbas region while legally retaining ownership of it, in exchange for an undisclosed rental fee from Moscow, officials familiar with the deal told the Telegraph.
It is one of a number of concessions reportedly demanded from Ukraine, including that it give up long-range missiles and slash its military personnel by half.
A source told NBC News that Trump himself had approved the 28-point plan this week, citing a US senior government official.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military officials say their efforts to hold on to the strategic city of Pokrovsk are being complicated by Russian soldiers disguising themselves as civilians.
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Key Points
- Zelensky receives US plan to end war in Ukraine and will speak with Trump
- White House says it briefed Ukraine on peace plan
- Ukraine must determine its future, Starmer says in response to US-backed plan
- Trump pushing cash-for-land deal on Ukraine in new peace plan – report
- Europe must be consulted on peace plans, says Polish minister
- Zelensky says 22 people missing at the site of Russian attack in western Ukraine
Zelensky ready for 'honest' work on US-backed plan as Europeans push back
President Volodymyr Zelensky said after talks with a top US Army official that he was ready for "honest" work with Washington on a plan to end the war in Ukraine, while European allies pushed back against punishing concessions to Russia.
Zelensky, whose office said he had received a draft of the plan, said after meeting US army secretary Daniel Driscoll in Kyiv that Ukraine and Washington would work together on elements of it.
"Our teams – Ukraine and the USA – will work on the points of the plan to end the war," Zelensky wrote on Telegram. "We are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work."
Zelensky's office did not comment directly on the content of the 28-point plan, which has not been officially published, but said he had "outlined the fundamental principles that matter to our people."
"In the coming days, the president of Ukraine expects to discuss with president Trump the existing diplomatic opportunities and the key points required to achieve peace," it said.
Arpan Rai21 November 2025 04:09Russia will rejoin G7 in Trump's new peace plan
Russia will rejoin the G7 under Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan for Ukraine, according to a report.
Russia will also be given majority of its frozen assets and freed from Western sanctions, The Telegraph has reported.
Washington has been secretly forming a plan with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. The new 28-point plan would consist of “security guarantees, security in Europe, and future US relations with Russia and Ukraine”, officials said.
It comes amid a fresh attempt by the US to force through a peace between Moscow and Kyiv after several diplomatic overtures faltered in recent months.
The Independent had reported earlier on the cash-for-land deal the US is pitching to Ukraine.
The US officials working on a new peace plan could force Ukraine to lease a part of its territory to Russia, people aware of the situation said.
The deal would ask Kyiv to cede control of the eastern Donbas region, while retaining legal ownership of the territory, officials familiar with the deal told The Telegraph.
Russia would pay an undisclosed rental fee for the region, they said. Russian will be the official state language and the Russian orthodox church would be given official status in the occupied territories.
The deal will also slash the size of Ukraine’s military in half and ban them from possessing long-range missiles, the report added.
The deployment of foreign troops will also be blocked under this deal, US military assistance will also cease and foreign diplomatic aircraft will be prevented from landing in the country.
Arpan Rai21 November 2025 03:56White House confirms secret peace deal and says it's good for both sides
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the US is working on a new peace plan aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
"Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio have been working on a plan quietly for about the last month," she said in a press briefing yesterday.
"They've been engaging with both sides, Russia and Ukraine equally, to understand what these countries would commit to in order to see a lasting and durable peace,” Leavitt said, adding that she will not “litigate the details” of the plan.
"It's a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe that it should be acceptable to both sides and we're working very hard to get it done,” the White House press secretary said.
Arpan Rai21 November 2025 03:36Russian attack kills five in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia
A Russian attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia late yesterday killed five people and injured three, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.
Pictures posted by Fedorov online showed buildings engulfed by flames and streets strewn with rubble.
The governor had earlier issued a warning of an impending attack by Russian guided bombs.
Arpan Rai21 November 2025 03:19Ukraine rejects reports of Russian forces capturing Kupiansk
The chief of Russia's general staff told president Vladimir Putin yesterday that Russian forces had taken control of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, but Ukraine's military denied the city had changed hands.
Ukraine also dismissed Russian statements that its forces had taken over large parts of two other towns – Pokrovsk, a logistics hub it has been pressing to capture for months, and Vovchansk, near the Russian border.
Putin had visited the command post of the Russian forces "West" grouping, where he met with chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, and top military brass, the Kremlin said earlier.
Putin had been briefed on the situation in two key cities in Ukraine's east, Kostiantynivka and Kramatorsk, as well as around Kupiansk in Kharkiv region, the Kremlin said.
"Units of the 'West' grouping have liberated the city of Kupiansk and are continuing to destroy Ukrainian armed forces units surrounded on the left bank of the Oskol River," Gerasimov told Putin in a video posted on the Kremlin site.
A late-evening statement by the Ukrainian military said: "The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces hereby announces that Kupiansk is under the control of Ukraine's defence forces."
“Also untrue are statements suggesting that 80 per cent of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region has been captured and 70 per cent of the city of Pokrovsk," it added.
The general staff reported heavy fighting in the Pokrovsk sector, with Russian forces launching 56 attacks.
Arpan Rai21 November 2025 03:02Russian attack kills five in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia, regional governor says
A Russian attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia late on Thursday killed five people and injured three, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.
Pictures posted by Fedorov online showed buildings engulfed by flames and streets strewn with rubble. The governor had earlier issued a warning of an impending attack by Russian guided bombs.
Holly Evans21 November 2025 03:00Defenceless Britain is a sitting duck – when Ukraine falls, we’re next
On Thursday, the defence secretary John Healey put Vladimir Putin and his military on notice following reports of aggressive activity by the Russian surveillance ship Yantar towards an RAF plane sent to track it off the north of Scotland.
Healey said the Yantar crew had fired laser beams at the pilots of an RAF P-8 maritime patrol plane.
“That Russian action is deeply dangerous,” he warned. “We see you. We know what you are doing. And if Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.”
Ready for what, you may ask? The activities of Yantar around the British Isles have been noted for nearly three years. The summer before last, the Irish coastguard spotted the ship loitering off Limerick for almost a month, close to one of the main hubs for the transatlantic communication cables.
The ship comes under Russia’s GUGI agency, a separate naval command, now responsible for ocean surveillance and sabotage. Among the GUGI inventory is a mother submarine, Belgorod, which can launch underwater attack drones capable of cutting underwater cables and oil and gas pipelines.
Read the full analysis from Robert Fox:
Defenceless Britain is a sitting duck – when Ukraine falls, we’re next
The government is doing the British public no favours by not facing up to the Russian threat, writes Robert Fox – not least when military leaders are lining up to point out how unprepared we are for future conflictHolly Evans21 November 2025 02:00Russian forces take Ukraine's Kupiansk, top military official says
The chief of Russia's general staff told President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Russian forces had taken control of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, but Ukraine's military denied the city had changed hands.
Ukraine also dismissed Russian statements that its forces had taken over large parts of two other towns -- Pokrovsk, a logistics hub it has been pressing to capture for months, and Vovchansk, near the Russian border.
Putin had visited the command post of the Russian forces "West" grouping, where he met with chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, and top military brass, the Kremlin said earlier.
Putin had been briefed on the situation in two key cities in Ukraine's east -- Kostiantynivka and Kramatorsk -- as well as around Kupiansk in Kharkiv region, the Kremlin said.
"Units of the 'West' grouping have liberated the city of Kupiansk and are continuing to destroy Ukrainian armed forces units surrounded on the left bank of the Oskol River," Gerasimov told Putin in a video posted on the Kremlin site.
Holly Evans21 November 2025 01:00Russia and Ukraine exchange bodies of dead soldiers
Ukraine and Russia have carried out a new exchange of bodies of dead soldiers, Ukrainian officials and Russian state media said on Thursday.
Ukraine said it received 1,000 bodies and Russian state news agency TASS quoted an unidentified source as saying Moscow got back 30.
"Investigators from law enforcement bodies, together with expert agencies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will soon conduct all necessary examinations and identify the repatriated bodies," Ukraine's prisoner-of-war coordination centre said on Telegram.
The two sides have conducted a series of such swaps, as well as exchanging live prisoners, in the course of the war that began with Russia's full-blown invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Ukraine has previously accused Russia of returning bodies in a disorderly way, and of sometimes sending the bodies of Russian soldiers. Moscow has denied this.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain21 November 2025 00:00Poland detains several people in connection with explosion on railway used to supply aid to Ukraine
Poland has detained several people linked with an explosion on a railway track used to transport weapons to Ukraine, Polish authorities have said.
An explosion damaged a railway track near Mika village in Poland on Sunday, which prime minister Donald Tusk described as an “unprecedented act of sabotage”.
Read more here:
Several arrests made in connection with explosion on Polish railway
Polish security minister says explosion was ‘a terrorist attack’Maryam Zakir-Hussain20 November 2025 23:30Newer1 / 5OlderMore about
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