Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity remains the “biggest challenge” in ongoing negotiations over a US plan to end the war, following discussions in Paris with European and US officials.

Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at a joint news conference on Monday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s priorities include security guarantees, sovereignty and preventing concessions that would legitimise Moscow’s occupation of Ukrainian land.

“Our biggest challenge is the territorial issue,” he said, urging partners to avoid any outcome that “rewards the war it [Russia] started”.

The comments came as officials from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom joined discussions in Paris, holding calls with US special envoy Steve Witkoff as part of an intensifying diplomatic push to end the war, which Russia launched with its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Zelenskyy said the meeting also reviewed the substance of talks held a day earlier between Ukrainian and American officials in the United States, adding that more meetings are being prepared across Europe.

Macron reiterated that “Ukraine must be the one to decide its own territorial boundaries”, while signalling that further discussions are planned between Washington and European allies on potential security guarantees for Ukraine should a deal to end the war emerge.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also emphasised the need for unity between Europe and the US on a pathway towards peace. In a statement, she praised Zelenskyy’s “consistently constructive approach” and said she hoped Russia would “offer its own concrete contribution” to future talks.

Territorial question deepens diplomatic tensions

The territorial issue is shaping up to be the most sensitive point in negotiations, as Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, prepare to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

Zelenskyy has said he hopes to speak with Trump after those talks. But Ukrainian officials have already told the US that Kyiv will not accept any settlement requiring it to cede territory.

“We told the American side that it is unacceptable for Russia to continue its occupation of our territory and then demand that we grant it legitimacy,” Zelenskyy’s adviser, Rustem Umerov, told Al Jazeera Arabic. “Giving up our territory means that international law no longer exists and that any party can use force to abolish the sovereignty of another party.”

Umerov said security guarantees remain a delicate part of discussions, because “we are seeking security for both Europe and Ukraine”. He added that negotiations will be “extremely difficult” if Russia genuinely engages, arguing that Moscow still believes “continuing the war is less costly than ending it”.

Reporting from Brussels, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said that European Union leaders are insisting that no major concessions be made to Russia, and that “instead of handing over territory, there need to be land swaps that can only be decided by the Ukrainian people”.

It comes after a draft US plan was leaked to the press in mid-November, prompting criticism in Ukraine and among its European allies, who said the document heavily favoured Moscow.

The plan had proposed to limit Ukraine’s army strength to 600,000 men, with no mention of any cap on Russia. It also barred Kyiv from ever joining NATO, and included plans for Moscow to keep captured Ukrainian territories.

Russian strikes hit Dnipro

As diplomatic efforts accelerate, Ukraine suffered another deadly attack earlier on Monday. Local officials said at least four people were killed in a Russian missile strike on the central city of Dnipro.

Interfax reported that injuries have risen to 43, citing Vladyslav Haivanenko, the acting head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration. He said 10 people were in serious condition. The strike damaged an administrative building, several businesses, four educational institutions, multiple high-rise buildings, two service stations and more than 50 vehicles.

Dnipro, located about 100km (62 miles) from the front line and home to nearly one million people before the war, is frequently targeted by Russian bombardments.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had “liberated” the settlement of Klynove in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, claiming it had advanced deep into Ukrainian positions. However, the Ukrainian army has refuted these claims.

Moscow said Ukraine lost about 1,415 troops across the front over the past 24 hours. Kyiv, meanwhile, reported eliminating 1,060 Russian troops, one tank, six armoured vehicles, 14 artillery systems, 239 drones and 71 vehicles in the same period.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify either side’s battlefield claims.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a call with US Vice President JD Vance that Ukraine agreed to work with the US and Europe towards a peace plan with Russia. Earlier he told the country it faces one of its most difficult moments as it weighs a US proposal that gives major concessions to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he’s willing to work with the United States on a plan to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, despite pushback from European allies who say that the US-backed plan heavily favours Russia.

Zelenskyy’s office on Thursday confirmed that he had received a draft of the plan, and that he would speak with US President Donald Trump in the coming days.

His office did not comment directly on the contents of the plan, which has not been published, but the Ukrainian leader 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,” Zelenskyy’s office said.

Several media outlets reported that the 28-point plan involves Ukraine ceding territory and weapons. Citing an unnamed US official with “direct knowledge”, Axios reported the plan would give Russia parts of eastern Ukraine that Moscow does not currently control, in exchange for a US security guarantee for Ukraine and Europe against future Russian aggression.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have been quietly working on the plan for a month, receiving input from both Ukrainians and Russians on terms that are acceptable to each side, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Thursday.

She declined to comment on details of the emerging proposal, but said Trump has been briefed on it and supports it.

“It is a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe it should be acceptable to both sides. And we are working hard to get it done,” Leavitt said.

Zelenskyy confirmed later that he discussed the plan with US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll in Kyiv.

“Our teams – Ukraine and the USA – will work on the points of the plan to end the war,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram without commenting directly on the plan. “We are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work.”

Russia appeared to play down any new US initiative.

“Consultations are not currently under way. There are contacts, of course, but there is no process that could be called consultations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

While Zelenskyy has signalled he is willing to work with the Trump administration on a ceasefire, Kyiv’s European allies have expressed scepticism.

“Ukrainians want peace – a just peace that respects everyone’s sovereignty, a durable peace that can’t be called into question by future aggression,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said during a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels. “But peace cannot be a capitulation.”

EU foreign policy head Kaja Kallas said any peace proposal would need support from Europe and Ukraine to move forward, with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski saying that Europe – whose security is “at stake” – expects to be consulted on any potential deal.

“I hope it’s not the victim that has restrictions on its ability to defend itself put on, but it’s the aggressor,” he said.

Fighting continues despite peace talks

Zelenskyy is facing pressure to join the US-backed diplomatic initiative as Ukrainian troops continue to lose ground to Russian forces in the country’s east.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in October that Russian forces had seized almost 5,000 square kilometres (1,930sq miles) of Ukraine this year.

On September 25, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, independently assessed the real figure to be closer to 3,434sq km (1,325sq miles).

Russia’s General Staff said Thursday that Moscow’s forces had seized the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk and controlled large sections of the towns of Pokrovsk and Vovchansk – a claim Ukraine vigorously denied.

“The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces hereby announces that Kupiansk is under the control of Ukraine’s defence forces,” the Ukrainian General Staff said in a late evening bulletin.

“Also untrue are statements suggesting that 80 percent of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region has been captured and 70 percent of the city of Pokrovsk.”

This week, a devastating Russian aerial assault on Ternopil in western Ukraine killed at least 26 people and wounded dozens more, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed Thursday.

Zelenskyy said on Thursday that 22 people were still missing at the site of Wednesday’s attack on Ternopil when Moscow unleashed 476 drones and 48 missiles across Ukraine. The attack damaged energy infrastructure across seven Ukrainian regions, prompting nationwide restrictions on power consumption.

“Every brazen attack against ordinary life indicates that the pressure on Russia [to stop the war] is insufficient,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

The bombardment coincided with Zelenskyy’s visit to Turkiye aimed at reviving peace talks with Russia following his European diplomatic mission.

“We count on the strength of Turkish diplomacy, on [how] it’s understood in Moscow,” Zelenskyy said after his meeting on Wednesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.