US urges Ukraine to agree to framework requiring force cuts and giving up land – Firstpost

The United States has informed President Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukraine is expected to agree to a US-drawn framework for ending the war with Russia, which would require Kiev to give up some territory and some weapons. reuters The report cited two people familiar with the discussions.

The outline also calls for reducing the size of Ukraine’s military, among other conditions, said the individuals, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. The sources said Washington wants Kiev to accept the core elements of the proposal.

President Zelensky had previously steadfastly refused to cede any part of the country, rejecting US suggestions that a peace deal with Russia could include land swaps.

Such a plan would represent a major blow to Kiev as it would face further Russian territorial gains in eastern Ukraine. Zelensky Parliament on Wednesday dismissed the energy and justice ministers over its handling of the corruption scandal.

A senior Ukrainian official had earlier told reuters That Kiev had received “signals” about a set of US proposals to end the war, which Washington has discussed with Russia. Ukraine had no role in drafting the proposal, the source said.

Zelenskywho were talking turkey He is scheduled to meet with U.S. military officials in Kiev on Thursday, along with President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s government bond prices jumped by their biggest in months on Wednesday amid signs of renewed US-led pressure to end the war.

There have been no face-to-face talks between Kiev and Moscow since a meeting in Istanbul in July and Russian forces continued Moscow’s nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine, killing 25 people in overnight attacks.

Efforts to revive peace talks appear to be gaining momentum, although Moscow has shown no signs of changing its conditions for ending the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has long demanded Kiev abandon plans to join the US-led NATO military alliance and withdraw its troops from four provinces that Moscow considers part of Russia. Moscow has given no indication that it has dropped any of these demands and Ukraine says it will not accept them.

Meanwhile, officials said on Wednesday that a major Russian drone and missile attack on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil killed at least 25 people, including three children, as President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Turkey to seek diplomatic support for his fight against Russia’s aggression.

The nighttime attack hit two nine-story apartment blocks in Ternopil, located about 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the Polish border, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Emergency services said at least 73 people were injured, including 15 children.

At least 19 of those killed were burned alive, Klymenko said, including three children aged 5, 7 and 16. He said on national television that two dozen people were still missing and rescue workers expected to work for at least two more days to complete the search of the debris.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia fired 476 strike and decoy drones, as well as 48 missiles of various types, at Ukrainian targets overnight. The Air Force said 47 cruise missiles were involved in the bombing, all but six of which were intercepted by air defense forces. It said Western-supplied F-16 and Mirage-2000 jets intercepted at least 10 cruise missiles.

“Every brazen attack against civilian life shows that pressure on Russia (to stop the war) is insufficient,” Zelensky wrote on the messaging app Telegram.

with inputs from agencies