EXCLUSIVE-Ukraine expected to give up land, some arms under US peace plan, sources say

The U.S. has signalled to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Ukraine must accept a U.S.-drafted framework to end the war with Russia that proposes Kyiv giving up territory and some weapons, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The U.S. has signalled to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Ukraine must accept a U.S.-drafted framework to end the war with Russia that proposes Kyiv giving up territory and some weapons, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the proposals included cutting the size of Ukraine's armed forces, among other things. Washington wants Kyiv to accept the main points, they said. Such a plan would represent a major setback for Kyiv as it faces further Russian territorial gains in eastern Ukraine and with Zelenskiy tackling a corruption scandal in which parliament dismissed the energy and justice ministers on Wednesday.

A senior Ukrainian official earlier told Reuters that Kyiv had received "signals" about a set of U.S. proposals to end the war that Washington has discussed with Russia. Ukraine has had no role in preparing the proposals, the source said. Zelenskiy, who was holding talks in Turkey on Wednesday with President Tayyip Erdogan, is due to meet U.S. Army officials in Kyiv on Thursday. Signs of a renewed U.S.-led push to end the war triggered the biggest jump in Ukraine's government bond prices in months on Wednesday. No face-to-face talks have taken place between Kyiv and Moscow since a meeting in Istanbul in July and Russian forces have pressed on with Moscow's nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine, killing 25 people in strikes overnight.

Efforts to revive peace negotiations appear to be gaining momentum although Moscow has shown no sign of changing its terms for ending the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long demanded Kyiv renounce plans to join the U.S.-led NATO military alliance and withdraw its troops from four provinces Moscow claims as part of Russia. Moscow has given no indication that it has dropped any of those demands and Ukraine says it will not accept them.

(Additional reporting by Hüseyin Hayatsever in Ankara, and Moscow and Istanbul newsrooms, Writing by Timothy Heritage and Gareth Jones, Editing by Jon Boyle)

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