Ukraine in a catch-22 situation

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned on Friday that Ukraine risked losing its dignity and freedom -- or Washington’s backing -- over a US peace plan that endorses key Russian demands, a proposal Donald Trump said Kyiv should accept within a week.

The US president told Fox News Radio he believed Thursday was an appropriate deadline for Kyiv to accept the plan, confirming what two sources told Reuters. Washington’s 28-point plan calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits to its military and renounce ambitions to join NATO.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said late on Friday the US plan could be the basis of a final resolution of the nearly four-year-old conflict. He has previously refused to budge on Russia’s key territorial and security demands.

Zelenskiy, in a solemn speech to the nation delivered earlier on Friday in the street outside his office, a location he uses only rarely for major addresses, appealed to Ukrainians for unity and said he would never betray Ukraine.

“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,” Zelenskiy said.

The United States has threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons supplies to Ukraine if it does not accept the deal, the two sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose the contents of private meetings.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, a senior US official later said it was not accurate to say the US threatened to withhold intelligence.

Putin, in televised comments to senior officials, said Kyiv was against the US plan but said neither it nor its European allies understood the reality of Russian advances in Ukraine.

Zelenskiy held a phone call on Friday with the leaders of Britain, 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”. In his public remarks, Zelenskiy has appeared careful not to reject the US plan or to offend the Americans.

“We value the efforts of the United States, President Trump, and his team aimed at ending this war. We are working on the document prepared by the American side. This must be a plan that ensures a real and dignified peace,” he said.

But Kyiv 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.

“Russia gets everything it wants and Ukraine gets not very much. If Zelenskiy accepts this, I anticipate huge political, social and economic instability in Ukraine,” said Tim Ash of Britain’s Chatham House think tank. Reuters