Kyiv says work continues on technical level between teams to study US proposals

KYIV: Ukraine called on its partners to respect its position as work continues on the technical level to study a U.S.-backed plan to end the war, a senior Ukrainian official said on Friday.

Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, said that Ukraine's unchanging principles were "sovereignty, the safety of people, and a just peace".

"We are carefully studying all of our partners' proposals and expect the same proper attitude towards Ukraine's position," Umerov said in a statement on the Telegram app.

According to the U.S.-backed plan, seen by Reuters, Kyiv would be required to cede the entire Donbas region and downsize its military, conditions long seen by Ukraine's allies as tantamount to capitulation.

The plan says Ukraine would have to limit its army to 600,000 troops and that it would "receive robust security guarantees," without providing further details.

About one million people now serve in the Ukrainian armed forces, defending more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) of the frontline against a bigger Russian army.

The proposals make several concessions to Russia, including that Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk would be recognized as de facto Russian by the United States and that Ukrainian forces would withdraw from part of the Donetsk region that they control.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll in Kyiv on Thursday evening, and after the meeting, he said that Kyiv was ready for "honest" work with Washington on the plan.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that U.S. officials planned to brief European Union ambassadors in Kyiv on the draft plan on Friday.