Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is ready to work with the US on a plan to end the war in Ukraine, and he expects to discuss it with US President Donald Trump in the coming days.
Mr Zelensky was speaking after talks with a top US Army official.
A draft of the 28-point peace plan backed by US President Donald Trump and seen by news agency AFP reportedly includes Ukraine giving up the eastern Donbas region to Russia.
As well as ceding the Donbas, which comprises the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that Ukraine currently holds, Ukraine would agree to limit its army to 600,000 personnel.
European fighter jets would be based in Poland to protect Ukraine, but no NATO troops would be stationed in Ukraine and Kyiv would agree never to join the military alliance, according to the plan.
European countries are pushing back against the US-backed plan, which sources said would require Ukraine to give up more land and partially disarm, conditions long seen by Ukraine's allies as tantamount to capitulation.
But Mr 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 the US 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," Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. "We are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work."
Mr Zelensky's office did not comment directly on the content of the 28-point plan, which has not been 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.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a news briefing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff had been quietly working on the plan for about a month and Mr Trump supports the plan.
"It's a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe that it should be acceptable to both sides," she said.
She said the US engaged equally with the Ukrainians and the Russians on the text.
Mr Zelensky's office said Mr Driscoll had presented him with the plan today, and several sources told media outlets that the plan was the fruit of backchannel conversations between Mr Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, the special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a message on X yesterday, Mr Rubio said the US "will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict" and that peace will require concessions from both Ukraine and Russia.
Mr Zelensky, who met Mr Driscoll alone then with the full US delegation, agreed to move quickly towards agreement and signing of a plan, said Colonel Dave Butler, US army chief of public affairs.
The United States, he said, wanted to ensure that this is "a good plan for the Ukrainian people".
The US ambassador to Kyiv, Julie Davis, said the talks were "remarkably constructive."
All participants "share President Trump's vision to end this war" and wanted to move forward quickly, she said.
The acceleration in US diplomacy comes at an awkward time for Kyiv, with its troops on the back foot on the battlefield and Mr Zelensky's government undermined by a corruption scandal. Parliament fired two cabinet ministers yesterday.
Video released by Russia appears to show Russian soldiers in Pokrovsk
Moscow played 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.
He said Russia had nothing to add beyond the position Mr Putin laid out at a summit with Mr Trump in August, adding that any peace deal must address the "root causes of the conflict", a phrase Moscow has long used to refer to its demands.
With another winter approaching in the nearly four-year-old war, Russian troops occupy almost one-fifth of Ukraine and are slowly advancing while bombarding Ukrainian energy supplies and cities as the cold winter sets in.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin had visited the command post of the Russian forces' "West" grouping today, where he met the chief of Russia's general staff, Valery Gerasimov, and other top military brass.
Gerasimov told Mr Putin that Russian forces had taken control of the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, a city Russia sees as an important target in its westward push through central and eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine's military denied Russian claims it controls Kupiansk in northeastern Ukraine or 70% of the ruined railway hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
Neither statement could be independently verified, although video released by Russia's defence ministry showed its troops moving freely through the southern part of Pokrovsk, patrolling deserted streets lined with charred apartment blocks.
'Peace cannot be capitulation' - France
European Union foreign ministers - meeting in Brussels - did not comment in detail about the US plan, which has not been made public, but indicated they would not accept demands for Ukraine to make punishing concessions.
"Ukrainians want peace - a just peace that respects everyone's sovereignty, a durable peace that can't be called into question by future aggression," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
"But peace cannot be a capitulation."
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that US special envoy Steve Witkoff had - during a phone call - underlined "the importance of close coordination with Germany and our European partners" to end the war.
EU foreign policy representative Kaja Kallas said that any agreement must have the Europeans and Ukraine itself on board.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that Ukraine, as the victim in the conflict, should not have restrictions imposed on its ability to defend itself.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said there can be no peace agreement imposed on Kyiv without its support and that of the EU.
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