By AFP
November 19, 2025
The surprise peace proposal comes as Russian missiles hit the western city of Ternopil - Copyright AFP YURIY DYACHYSHYN
Yuriy DYACHYSHYN with Burcin GERCEK in Ankara
A new US peace proposal for Ukraine would see Kyiv ceding land and more than halving its army, a source told AFP Wednesday, as a Russian strike in the west of the country killed 26 people, including three children.
The proposal appears to repeat Russia’s maximalist terms to end the war — demands consistently rejected by Ukraine as tantamount to capitulation.
The surprise initiative comes as Russian missiles hit the western city of Ternopil, far from the front line, in one of the deadliest attacks on western Ukraine since the invasion began in 2022.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s efforts to re-engage US President Donald Trump’s administration in the peace process during a surprise visit to Turkey fell flat after an American envoy thought to be joining him did not make the trip.
The draft US peace proposal provides for “recognition of Crimea and other regions that the Russians have taken” and “reduction of the army to 400,000 personnel”, a source familiar with it, who did not wish to be identified, told AFP.
It would also see Ukraine giving up all long-range weapons.
“An important nuance is that we don’t understand whether this is really Trump’s story” or “his entourage’s”, the official added.
It was “unclear” what Russia was supposed to do in return, according to the source.
At the same time, US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll arrived in Kyiv, leading a high-profile Pentagon delegation to meet Ukrainian officials and find ways to settle the conflict, US broadcaster CBS News said, citing the US military. Driscoll met with Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmygal on Wednesday.
American media outlet Axios earlier reported Moscow and Washington had been working on a secret plan to end the almost four-year war.
The Kremlin had declined to comment on the report, later saying there was nothing new in the peace settlement progress. AFP has contacted the White House for comment.
Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, much of it ravaged by fighting.
– ‘Too late’ –
In Ternopil, AFP saw dozens of rescuers searching through rubble after cruise missiles slammed into apartment blocks, using cranes to reach the destroyed building. Thick grey smoke engulfed the streets just after explosions were heard at 7:00 am (0500 GMT).
City officials reported the fires had caused chlorine levels in the air to spike to six times the norm, and called on Ternopil’s 200,000 residents to stay home and close their windows.
Rescuers dangled on cabins hanging from cranes trying to reach the top of the stricken Soviet-era apartment building.
Wrapped in a pink blanket, 46-year-old Oksana waited for news of her 20-year-old son, Bohdan.
“I went to work, and my son stayed at home. I called him from the minibus and said ‘Bohdan, get dressed and come out’,” she said. “He said: ‘Mum, don’t worry, everything will be fine.’ But it was too late. That’s it,” she told AFP.
Her sister, Natalia Bachinska, said the family lived on the ninth floor.
“Their apartment is completely gone… He still has not been found.”
The state emergency service said 26 people, including three children, were killed, and another 92 people, including 18 children, wounded.
“These were people who were simply at home, peacefully sleeping,” Zelensky said, warning that rescuers were still searching for people trapped in the rubble.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said he was “appalled” by the number of civilian casualties in the attack.
“The horror of powerful long-range missiles combined with waves of drones increasingly being used by Russian forces was again painfully laid bare in Ukraine this morning,” Turk said in a statement.
“This is how Russia’s ‘peace plans’ look in reality,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.
– Winter looming –
The strike came as Russia batters Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of the winter, and with Ukraine’s stretched troops under pressure on the front line.
Kyiv had pitched Zelensky’s unexpected visit to Turkey as part of efforts to re-engage the US in trying to end the war.
But Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff did not travel after Ukraine had said he was expected to join the talks.
And there were no Russian officials present.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the warring sides to join talks in Istanbul, where three rounds of negotiations this year have yielded only prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of killed soldiers’ bodies.
Zelensky said he wanted to resume POW swaps with Russia by the end of the year.
But Ukraine’s main hope is that Washington can push Russia to the negotiating table, including by imposing sanctions.
On the battlefield, Russian troops are making slow but steady advances, and Moscow insists it will carry on fighting if Ukraine does not cave to its demands.
“The war must end, there is no alternative to peace,” Zelensky said in Ankara.
Yuriy DYACHYSHYN with Burcin GERCEK in Ankara
A new US peace proposal for Ukraine would see Kyiv ceding land and more than halving its army, a source told AFP Wednesday, as a Russian strike in the west of the country killed 26 people, including three children.
The proposal appears to repeat Russia’s maximalist terms to end the war — demands consistently rejected by Ukraine as tantamount to capitulation.
The surprise initiative comes as Russian missiles hit the western city of Ternopil, far from the front line, in one of the deadliest attacks on western Ukraine since the invasion began in 2022.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s efforts to re-engage US President Donald Trump’s administration in the peace process during a surprise visit to Turkey fell flat after an American envoy thought to be joining him did not make the trip.
The draft US peace proposal provides for “recognition of Crimea and other regions that the Russians have taken” and “reduction of the army to 400,000 personnel”, a source familiar with it, who did not wish to be identified, told AFP.
It would also see Ukraine giving up all long-range weapons.
“An important nuance is that we don’t understand whether this is really Trump’s story” or “his entourage’s”, the official added.
It was “unclear” what Russia was supposed to do in return, according to the source.
At the same time, US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll arrived in Kyiv, leading a high-profile Pentagon delegation to meet Ukrainian officials and find ways to settle the conflict, US broadcaster CBS News said, citing the US military. Driscoll met with Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmygal on Wednesday.
American media outlet Axios earlier reported Moscow and Washington had been working on a secret plan to end the almost four-year war.
The Kremlin had declined to comment on the report, later saying there was nothing new in the peace settlement progress. AFP has contacted the White House for comment.
Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, much of it ravaged by fighting.
– ‘Too late’ –
In Ternopil, AFP saw dozens of rescuers searching through rubble after cruise missiles slammed into apartment blocks, using cranes to reach the destroyed building. Thick grey smoke engulfed the streets just after explosions were heard at 7:00 am (0500 GMT).
City officials reported the fires had caused chlorine levels in the air to spike to six times the norm, and called on Ternopil’s 200,000 residents to stay home and close their windows.
Rescuers dangled on cabins hanging from cranes trying to reach the top of the stricken Soviet-era apartment building.
Wrapped in a pink blanket, 46-year-old Oksana waited for news of her 20-year-old son, Bohdan.
“I went to work, and my son stayed at home. I called him from the minibus and said ‘Bohdan, get dressed and come out’,” she said. “He said: ‘Mum, don’t worry, everything will be fine.’ But it was too late. That’s it,” she told AFP.
Her sister, Natalia Bachinska, said the family lived on the ninth floor.
“Their apartment is completely gone… He still has not been found.”
The state emergency service said 26 people, including three children, were killed, and another 92 people, including 18 children, wounded.
“These were people who were simply at home, peacefully sleeping,” Zelensky said, warning that rescuers were still searching for people trapped in the rubble.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said he was “appalled” by the number of civilian casualties in the attack.
“The horror of powerful long-range missiles combined with waves of drones increasingly being used by Russian forces was again painfully laid bare in Ukraine this morning,” Turk said in a statement.
“This is how Russia’s ‘peace plans’ look in reality,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.
– Winter looming –
The strike came as Russia batters Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of the winter, and with Ukraine’s stretched troops under pressure on the front line.
Kyiv had pitched Zelensky’s unexpected visit to Turkey as part of efforts to re-engage the US in trying to end the war.
But Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff did not travel after Ukraine had said he was expected to join the talks.
And there were no Russian officials present.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the warring sides to join talks in Istanbul, where three rounds of negotiations this year have yielded only prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of killed soldiers’ bodies.
Zelensky said he wanted to resume POW swaps with Russia by the end of the year.
But Ukraine’s main hope is that Washington can push Russia to the negotiating table, including by imposing sanctions.
On the battlefield, Russian troops are making slow but steady advances, and Moscow insists it will carry on fighting if Ukraine does not cave to its demands.
“The war must end, there is no alternative to peace,” Zelensky said in Ankara.
'This sounds ominous': Foreign ally told to 'buckle up' for new peace deal being imposed
Travis Gettys
November 19, 2025
Travis Gettys
November 19, 2025
ALTERNET
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
New details have emerged about a Ukraine peace plan secretly worked up between the U.S. and Russia – and how Trump administration officials intend to impose its conditions.
President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff has been drafting the 28-point plan with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, according to reporting from Tuesday night, and Politico Playbook reported Wednesday the White House will soon unveil the agreement to end the three-and-a-half year war to an end.
"So this is one way to distract from the Epstein files," Playbook reported. "A senior White House official [says] they expect a framework for ending the conflict to be agreed by all parties by the end of this month — and possibly 'as soon as this week.'"
"Buckle up," the report added.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, along with a pair of four-star general and other senior U.S. military officials, made a highly unusual trip to Kyiv on Wednesday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Trump administration officials said a plan was on the table to end the Russian invasion.
"But here’s the thing: This new peace plan has seemingly had no direct input from Ukraine, nor from America’s allies in Europe," Playbook reported. "And we have no sense yet of the details, of what’s been hammered out on the thorniest questions around Russia’s seizure of vast swathes of Ukrainian territory, the kidnapping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children or the security guarantees being offered to Ukraine in the aftermath."
The White House feels confident an agreement will be reached because, as administration officials said, Zelenskyy is under too much pressure to turn it down.
"What we are going to present is reasonable," a senior White House official said.
Russian officials apparently agree, and Playbook noted "this sounds ominous."
“We feel the Russian position is really being heard," Dmitriev, the Russian envoy. "[This is a proposal] to address the Ukraine conflict, but also how to restore U.S.-Russia ties [and] address Russia's security concerns. It's actually a much broader framework, basically saying, 'How do we really bring, finally, lasting security to Europe, not just Ukraine.'"
A senior White House official was asked to comment on Europe's possible input on the agreement and dismissed the issue entirely.
“We don't really care about the Europeans,” the official told Playbook. “It's about Ukraine accepting.”
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
New details have emerged about a Ukraine peace plan secretly worked up between the U.S. and Russia – and how Trump administration officials intend to impose its conditions.
President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff has been drafting the 28-point plan with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, according to reporting from Tuesday night, and Politico Playbook reported Wednesday the White House will soon unveil the agreement to end the three-and-a-half year war to an end.
"So this is one way to distract from the Epstein files," Playbook reported. "A senior White House official [says] they expect a framework for ending the conflict to be agreed by all parties by the end of this month — and possibly 'as soon as this week.'"
"Buckle up," the report added.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, along with a pair of four-star general and other senior U.S. military officials, made a highly unusual trip to Kyiv on Wednesday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Trump administration officials said a plan was on the table to end the Russian invasion.
"But here’s the thing: This new peace plan has seemingly had no direct input from Ukraine, nor from America’s allies in Europe," Playbook reported. "And we have no sense yet of the details, of what’s been hammered out on the thorniest questions around Russia’s seizure of vast swathes of Ukrainian territory, the kidnapping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children or the security guarantees being offered to Ukraine in the aftermath."
The White House feels confident an agreement will be reached because, as administration officials said, Zelenskyy is under too much pressure to turn it down.
"What we are going to present is reasonable," a senior White House official said.
Russian officials apparently agree, and Playbook noted "this sounds ominous."
“We feel the Russian position is really being heard," Dmitriev, the Russian envoy. "[This is a proposal] to address the Ukraine conflict, but also how to restore U.S.-Russia ties [and] address Russia's security concerns. It's actually a much broader framework, basically saying, 'How do we really bring, finally, lasting security to Europe, not just Ukraine.'"
A senior White House official was asked to comment on Europe's possible input on the agreement and dismissed the issue entirely.
“We don't really care about the Europeans,” the official told Playbook. “It's about Ukraine accepting.”
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