A planned meeting in Ankara between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Steve Witkoff, the United States president’s special envoy, has been postponed against the backdrop of a new US–Russian peace initiative that Kyiv regards as unacceptable.
Witkoff was due to travel to the Turkish capital for a three-way meeting with Zelenskyy and Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan to discuss a 28-point United States peace plan for ending Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A US official told that the encounter was delayed once it became clear that Zelenskyy was not prepared to discuss the American proposal in its current form.
According to Axios, Zelenskyy instead arrived in Ankara with an alternative plan developed with European partners, described by one US official as a framework that Russia “will never accept”. A Ukrainian official cited by the same report said Kyiv had asked that any discussion of post-war arrangements be held in a broader format involving European countries, and that the meeting with Witkoff was therefore postponed rather than cancelled.
Another American official linked the delay not only to disagreements over the proposed framework, but also to domestic political tensions in Ukraine, including a corruption-related investigation involving figures close to the president. The official added that US president Donald Trump had authorised Witkoff to seek an agreement with Zelenskyy in Türkiye and had backed the decision to call off the Ankara encounter. “Now we are going to wait. The ball is in Zelenskyy’s court,” the official was quoted as saying, adding that the Ukrainian leader could instead travel to Washington to examine the US proposal.
The postponed meeting comes as further details have emerged of the peace plan itself. The Financial Times reported that the 28-point draft was developed at talks in Miami late last month between Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund and an informal envoy for the Kremlin. The paper said a group of current and former US and Russian officials participated in shaping the document, which remains under development.
According to the FT report, the proposal envisages substantial concessions by Kyiv. People familiar with the document told the paper that Ukraine would be required to transfer control of the remaining parts of the Donbas region, including areas now held by Ukrainian forces, and to cut the size of its armed forces by about half. It would also oblige Ukraine to give up key categories of weaponry and accept a reduction in US military assistance that has been central to its defence effort.
The same reports state that the plan includes provisions for recognising Russian as an official state language in Ukraine and granting formal status to the Russian Orthodox Church. One person familiar with the draft described it as a general framework that leans heavily towards Russia’s position, while another characterised it as “very convenient for Putin”, according to the FT account. Officials in Kyiv who have seen the document say it largely reflects what they describe as the Kremlin’s maximalist demands and would be unacceptable to Ukraine without significant changes.
Ukrainian reports say the draft was handed to Kyiv this week by Witkoff during a meeting in Miami with Ukraine’s national security and defence council secretary, Rustem Umerov. Dmitriev is understood to have been in the United States at the end of October for contacts relating to possible arrangements to end the war, following earlier meetings with Witkoff in Russia and third countries.
According to Axios, the 28 points are grouped into four broad baskets: a ceasefire and conditions for peace in Ukraine; security guarantees; a wider European security architecture; and future US relations with Russia and Ukraine. Separate reports suggest that Washington is aiming to secure agreement on a framework for ending hostilities by the end of the month, though it remains unclear how this timeline would be reconciled with Kyiv’s stated conditions for a settlement, which include the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian troops.
While the Ankara meeting with Witkoff did not go ahead, Zelenskyy’s visit to Türkiye proceeded as planned in its bilateral format. He held talks with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the presidential complex in Ankara, with discussions reported to have focused on the course of the war, security in the Black Sea, grain exports and prisoner exchanges. For Ankara, the episode reinforces its role as a venue and intermediary for contacts related to the conflict. For Kyiv, it highlights the growing complexity of parallel diplomatic tracks, as Ukraine engages with European partners on its own proposals while responding to initiatives negotiated directly between Washington and Moscow.
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