Ukraine could face some tough choices amid reports that the U.S. and Russia have secretly formulated a peace plan to end the war, potentially including significant concessions to Moscow.
Senior U.S. military officials are in Ukraine on Thursday “on a fact finding mission to meet with Ukrainian officials and discuss efforts to end the war” with Russia, a U.S. army spokesman said.
The visit comes a day after media reports suggested Washington and Moscow had held secret talks and devised a new 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, without Kyiv’s involvement.
The 28-point plan — first reported by Axios but followed by other media, including the Financial Times and Reuters, citing unnamed sources — allegedly contains proposals for Ukraine to concede territory in its eastern Donbas region to Russia, abandon certain categories of weaponry and reduce the size of its armed forces by 50%, among other conditions.
One report in The Telegraph newspaper suggested that Russia could take control of the Donbas region despite Ukraine maintaining legal ownership, with Moscow essentially paying rent for the land. CNBC was unable to confirm the information contained within the media reports.
