‘Absolutely senseless’: Trump peace plan triggers backlash in Ukraine

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London: US President Donald Trump has provoked a backlash in Ukraine over a sweeping peace plan that would halve the nation’s army and cede territory to Russia, as tougher oil sanctions cut valuable revenue flowing to Moscow.

Trump has sent the peace proposal to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of potential talks within days to discuss the concessions despite the objections in Kyiv, where political leaders are calling for greater force against the Kremlin.

A residential building that was heavily damaged after a Russian strike on Ternopil in Ukraine on Wednesday.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the existing pressure on Russia was working and should be toughened, countering the US argument about the need for concessions.

“While Russia continues killing innocent civilians, destroying homes, and targeting critical infrastructure, the strategy of pressure on Russia is proving effective,” she said.

“It is crucial to further strengthen energy and financial sanctions against the aggressor state.”

Svyrydenko issued the call after meeting one of Trump’s key envoys, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, in the Ukrainian capital late on Thursday night, AEDT.

US Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll (left) with Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Zelensky confirmed his meeting with Driscoll and said he was willing to discuss the US plan.

“Our teams – Ukraine and the USA – will work on the points of the plan to end the war,” Zelensky said on social media site Telegram.

“We are ready for constructive, honest and prompt work.”

The American plan is said to have 28 points including a proposal for Ukraine to give up land in the Donbas region along its border with Russia, even though some of this territory is held by Ukrainian forces.

The draft plan also suggests the Ukrainian defence forces could be cut in half under a peace deal and Ukraine would give up the use of long-range missiles and other weapons that could reach Russian targets.

It appears to include an American security guarantee, according to media reports, but leaders in Kyiv rejected the idea of giving up military power and exposing the country to future threats from Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.

The head of the foreign affairs committee in Ukraine’s parliament, Oleksandr Merezhko, described the plan as “absolutely senseless” in remarks to The Kyiv Independent.

Zelensky’s office confirmed it had received the draft.

“We are ready now, as before, to work constructively with the American side, as well as with our partners in Europe and around the world so that the outcome is peace,” it said in a statement on Friday, AEDT.

The moves came after Russia fired 476 drones and 48 missiles at Ukraine in a single night, killing 26 people and wounding about 100 others. Those missing from a strike on an apartment building in the western city of Ternopil included three children.

European Commission foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas welcomed the US attempt to secure a peace, but cited the Russian bombing as proof there was no commitment to peace in Moscow.

“For any plan to work, it needs the Ukrainians and Europeans on board,” she said.

“We have to understand that in this war there is one aggressor and one victim. We haven’t heard of any concessions on the Russian side.

“If Russia really wanted peace, it could have agreed to an unconditional ceasefire already, some time ago.”

The controversial peace plan emerged three weeks after Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met senior Russian official Kirill Dmitriev over several days in Florida.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, said there were no consultations underway.

A damaged Christian Orthodox church in the frontline town of Kostyantynivka on the weekend.

Tougher US sanctions on Russian oil exports are due to take effect on Friday after Trump named the two biggest suppliers, Lukoil and Rosneft, as targets last month. While Lukoil has gained an extension so it can divest some of its operations, the curbs on Rosneft begin on November 21.

The move is already reducing some of the oil revenue flowing to Moscow, as some buyers cut their use of Russian oil out of fear they would be captured by the American sanction regime for doing business with targeted companies.

Reliance Industries, which runs the world’s biggest oil refinery at Jamnagar in India, said on Thursday – a day ahead of the US deadline — that it had stopped using Russian oil at its export refinery.

The refinery is estimated to supply 90 per cent of the petrol and diesel shipped from India to Australia each year, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a non-profit group in Europe.

Reliance has not pledged to stop using Russian oil at a neighbouring refinery that supplies the Indian domestic market.

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