President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday called on Ukrainians to be united and vowed to never betray Ukraine, in an address to the nation after the United States presented Kiev with a peace plan that supports Russia's main demands.
Speaking on the street in front of his office, a place he rarely uses for major speeches, Zelensky said Ukraine is trying to preserve its freedom while also securing the support of its most important ally.
"This is one of the most difficult moments in our history. Now, the pressure on Ukraine is among the greatest. Now, Ukraine may face a very difficult choice: either lose its dignity or risk losing a great partner," he said.
"I will fight 24/7 to ensure that at least two points of the plan are not overlooked: the dignity and freedom of Ukrainians," Zelensky said.
Washington has presented Kiev with a 28-point plan, which requires Ukraine to surrender parts of its land, accept limitations on its military and abandon its goal of joining NATO.
Two sources told Reuters news agency that Washington has given Ukraine a week to accept the plan.
The United States has threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and arms supplies to Ukraine if it does not accept the deal, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A U.S. military delegation met with Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday. The U.S. ambassador and the military's chief of information traveling with the delegation described the meeting as successful and said Washington was seeking an "aggressive timeline" for the U.S. and Ukraine to sign a document.
Zelensky held a phone conversation on Friday with the leaders of allies Britain, Germany and France, and then spoke with US Vice President JD Vance.
European leaders, who were not consulted on the 28-point plan, expressed their strong support for Kiev.
"We all want this war to end, but the way it ends matters. Russia has no legal right to any concessions from the country it occupied," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
"This is a very dangerous moment for everyone," she added.
US officials, defending their plan, have said it was drafted after consultations with Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, a close Zelensky ally who served as defense minister until July.
Umerov "agreed to most of the plan, after making some changes, and presented it to President Zelensky," a senior US official said on Thursday.
Umerov denied that he had agreed to any of the points of the plan and said that he had only played a technical role in organizing the talks.
"I have not given any assessment or, much less, approval of any point. This is not within my authority and does not comply with the procedure," he wrote on Telegram.
The Kremlin, for its part, said Russia had not received anything official from the United States about any peace plan. Kiev must make a “responsible decision” and do it now, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The plan, a copy of which has been seen by Reuters, would require Ukraine to withdraw from land it still controls in eastern provinces that Russia claims to have annexed, while Russia would give up smaller amounts of territory it holds in other regions.
Ukraine would be permanently banned from joining the NATO military alliance, and its armed forces would be limited to 600.000 troops.
NATO would agree to never deploy troops there.
Sanctions against Russia would be gradually lifted, Moscow would be invited back into the G8 group of industrialized countries, and frozen Russian assets would be pooled in an investment fund, with Washington receiving a share of the profits.
One of Ukraine's main demands, for enforceable guarantees equivalent to NATO's mutual defense clause to deter Russia from future attacks, is addressed in a single sentence without detail: "Ukraine will receive strong security guarantees."
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