Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv responds to Trump peace deal as Zelensky prepares for crucial talks

The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia had not yet received anything official from the United States about a 28-point US peace plan for Ukraine, but it was ready to negotiate.

“There are certain ideas on the American side, but nothing substantive is currently being discussed,” Peskov said.

“We are completely open – we maintain our openness to peace negotiations.”

He added that Russian battlefield advances were shrinking Volodymyr Zelensky’s options.

“The effective work of the Russian armed forces should convince Zelenskiy and his regime that it is better to negotiate and do so now. It’s better to do this right now, rather than later. His room for decision-making is shrinking as he loses territory during the offensive actions of the Russian armed forces,” he said.

Continuing the war was “pointless and dangerous” for Ukraine, Peskov said. “The [Ukrainian] regime must make a responsible decision. Do it now and assume responsibility.”

British prime minister Keir Starmer will take part in a call with German chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday about a US-Russian plan to end the war in Ukraine, a government source said.

Mr Merz earlier cancelled an event to join the call, two government sources told Reuters.

The chancellor will also hold calls with US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the plan, according to German tabloid Bild.

Russia’s Defence Ministry has said on Friday that its forces had captured a string of settlements in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

These include the villages of Yampil, Stavky, Novoselivka and Maslyakivkaas well as the village of Radisne in neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region, state news agency RIA said.

The Independent could not verify the battlefield reports.

Ukraine has said its forces are holding defensive lines in the northern part of the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk and were blocking attempts by Russian troops to advance further.

Moscow’s forces have ground towards the logistics hub for months to try to capture Pokrovsk, which Russian media has dubbed as the “gateway” to Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region.

The chief of Russia’s general staff said late on Thursday that Russian troops had taken 70 per cent of the city, as well as the entire northeastern city of Kupiansk – claims Ukraine swiftly denied.

In a statement on Friday, Kyiv’s 7th Rapid Response Corps said it was inflicting heavy losses on Russian troops and bolstering its own forces, including with drone units.

“The enemy is trying to cross the railway to increase the area of occupation of the city, but our troops are blocking these attempts,” it said.

“The enemy’s troops in Pokrovsk are being ground down. As a result, the enemy is having to replenish its losses among personnel.”

Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump are set to hold a call next week after the Ukrainian president called for talks on Washington’s peace proposal, Sky News is reporting.

The talks will come after Mr Zelensky holds talks with leaders of the UK, France, Italy and Germany.

Europe is preparing to resist the plan, with objections having already been heard from countries including Poland, Italy and France.

The broadcaster reports that the EU is hoping US secretary of state Marco Rubio will turn things in their favour.

The head of Ukraine’s peace delegation, Rustem Umerov, has denied reports in US media that he agreed to the ‘majority’ of Donald Trump’s proposed peace deal.

A senior US source had told the New York Post that Kyiv had “agreed to the majority of the plan” but was not yet ready to “sign off”.

Mr Umerov, who is the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security Council, said: “I have not provided any assessments or more so agreements of any points. It is not within my powers and is not in accordance with procedure.”

He said work towards a peace plan will continue “at the technical level between teams”, adding that Kyiv will examine all proposals while “expecting the same correct attitude to the Ukrainian position”.

Mr Umerov added: “Publications in the media about alleged ‘agreement’ or ‘extraction of points’ have nothing to do with reality. These are examples of unverified information that emerged out of the context of consultations.”

German chancellor Friedrich Merz will join an urgent call with other leaders about a US-Russian plan to end the war in Ukraine on Friday, Bloomberg reported citing a government official.

The country’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul earlier said that he sees the plan as a list of issues that need to be urgently discussed between Ukraine and Russia, but underlined that it is not a final plan.

“The German position is the European position, and that means we are backing Ukraine. We want to ensure that Ukraine can discuss these points from a position of strength,” said Mr Wadephul in Brussels, where he is attending an Indo-Pacific ministerial meeting.

The European Union would support any peace plan for Ukraine as long as it brings a lasting and just peace and if it involves Ukraine and the EU, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday.

“As for the peace plan we understand the President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy has been presented with, we have always said for any plan to work it needs to be with Ukraine and the Europeans on board,” she said in a speech in Brussels.