Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pushed back against a United States plan to end Russia's invasion, while Russian leader Vladimir Putin welcomed the proposal, which endorses many key Russian demands.
US President Donald Trump has given Ukraine a week to accept the proposal, telling Fox News he believed Thursday was an appropriate deadline for Ukraine to accept the plan.
The US' 28-point plan calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits to its military, renounce ambitions to join NATO and hold snap elections.
Russia, meanwhile, would gain territory, be reintegrated into the global economy and rejoin the G8, under a draft of the plan.
Putin said on Saturday the US plan could be the foundation of a final resolution of the nearly four-year-old conflict, but threatened more land seizures if Ukraine walked away from negotiations.
He has previously refused to budge on Russia's key territorial and security demands.
"Ukraine and its European allies are still living under illusions and dreaming of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield," the Russian president said in a televised meeting with his security council.
Vladimir Putin has welcomed the US proposal, which endorses many key Russian demands. Source: AAP / Reuters Pool / EPA / Ramil Sitdikov
"Now is one of the most difficult moments of our history ... Now, Ukraine can face a very difficult choice — either losing dignity or risk losing a major partner," he said.
"I will fight 24/7 to ensure that at least two points in the plan are not overlooked — the dignity and freedom of Ukrainians," Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president said he would "present arguments" and "propose alternatives" to the plan in its current form.
Zelenskyy held a phone call on Friday with the leaders of the UK, Germany and France, and later spoke to US vice president JD Vance.
He said he had agreed with Vance to have their advisers work "to find a workable path to peace".
Ukraine has rejected the plan's terms in the past as capitulation, and a deal on that basis could test the stability of Ukrainian society after nearly four years of relentless warfare.
Three sources told Reuters that Ukraine was working on a counter-proposal to the 28-point plan with the UK, France and Germany.
The Europeans have not been consulted on the US plan and have expressed strong support for Ukraine.
"We all want this war to end, but how it ends matters. Russia has no legal right whatsoever to any concessions from the country it invaded," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. "This is a very dangerous moment for all."
US officials, defending their plan, have said it was drafted after consultations with Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine's national security and defence council, a close Zelenskyy ally who served as defence minister until July.
Umerov "agreed to the majority of the plan, after making several modifications, and presented it to President Zelenskyy," a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
Umerov denied agreeing to any of the plan's terms and said he had played only a technical role organising talks.
What's in the proposed peace plan?
The US plan would require Ukraine to withdraw from territory it still controls in eastern provinces that Russia claims to have annexed, while Russia would give up smaller amounts of land it holds in other regions.
Ukraine would be permanently barred from joining the NATO military alliance, and its armed forces would be capped at 600,000 troops. NATO would agree never to station troops there.
Ukraine would also hold snap elections under the plan.
Sanctions against Russia would be gradually lifted, Moscow would be invited back into the G8 group of industrialised countries, and frozen Russian assets would be pooled in an investment fund, with the US given some of the profits.
One of Ukraine's main demands, for enforceable guarantees equivalent to NATO's mutual defence clause to deter Russia from attacking again, is dealt with in a single line with no details: "Ukraine will receive robust security guarantees."
Trump has accepted some of Russia's justifications for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine while also expressing some impatience.
Last month, he cancelled a proposed summit with Putin and imposed sanctions on Russia's two main oil companies.
Trump said on Friday he expected the "powerful" sanctions to have their intended effect on Russia, adding: "Their whole economy is based on oil".
He said he would not remove the sanctions before the implementation of the 28-point plan.
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