The United States has drawn up a peace proposal for Ukraine that contemplates kyiv giving up territory and reducing its army by half, a source familiar with the matter told AFP this Wednesday (11/19/2025), when a Russian bombing killed 26 people in western Ukraine.
Three children were among those killed in the city of Ternopil, while 92 people were injured, emergency services indicated.
Amid the hostilities, Ukraine received a new peace proposal from the United States that appears to align with Russia’s top demands, and which kyiv has repeatedly rejected as synonymous with capitulation.
The text requires kyiv to give up territory controlled by Russia and reduce its army by more than half, a source familiar with the matter told AFP on Wednesday, on condition of anonymity.
The draft stipulates “the recognition of Crimea and other regions that the Russians have taken” and “the reduction of the army to 400,000 troops,” the source said. Ukraine should also give up its long-range weapons, he explained.
“An important nuance is that we do not understand if this is a Trump thing” or “his environment,” said this source. It is also unclear what Russia would do in exchange for these concessions, he added.
AFP contacted the White House for comment, still without a response.
The American media Axios had previously published that Moscow and Washington were working on a secret plan to end the war that began in February 2022 with the Russian invasion.
The Kremlin declined to comment on this information and later noted that there was no news in the peace efforts.
Hostilities continue in Ukraine
Russia currently controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, much of it destroyed by fighting.
One of its main demands for peace is to preserve the areas of eastern and southern Ukraine that it controls.
In 2022, Moscow claimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson), although it does not control them in their entirety. Russia also annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and completely dominates it.
At least 26 people died this Wednesday in one of the worst Russian bombings in western Ukraine, an attack that coincided with President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s unsuccessful visit to Turkey to resume peace negotiations.
After meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, Zelensky expressed his willingness to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia “between now and the end of the year.”
His visit to Türkiye, without a Russian presence, sought to revive US involvement in efforts to end the Russian invasion. But the meeting was marked by the absence of Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s main envoy.
Türkiye has hosted three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine this year, which have only resulted in the exchange of prisoners and the repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers.
The Russian military, meanwhile, continued bombing Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure before the onset of winter.
In Ternopil the attack hit two blocks of flats. Photos released by authorities show destroyed buildings, with huge fires visible through broken windows.
“Insufficient pressure”
Ternopil authorities reported that the level of chlorine in the air increased six-fold due to the fires, and asked residents to stay home and close their windows.
Russia launched more than 476 drones and 48 missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force, destroying 442 and 41 respectively.
The night attacks also left dozens injured in the northeastern region of Kharkiv. Additionally, Russia attacked other parts of western Ukraine.
The head of the German government, Friedrich Merz, denounced “a massive intensification” of Russian attacks.
“This has nothing to do with military objectives. This is purely a war of terror against the Ukrainian civilian population,” he denounced at a press conference.
mg (afp, efe)
