KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with top Pentagon officials in Kyiv on Thursday, his office said, as details emerge of a US plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The meeting will take place a day after US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff skipped a meeting with Zelensky in Turkiye, in a blow to Kyiv’s hopes to reinvigorate diplomacy and re-engage Washington in pressuring Russia to end the war.
A Pentagon delegation, headed by US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko met Driscoll on Thursday, calling the visit an opportunity for the US officials “assess the situation on the ground and to witness first-hand the consequences of Russian aggression”.
Zelensky’s aide Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists the Ukrainian leader plans to meet them.
The delegation met Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmygal on Wednesday evening.
US officials have rarely visited Ukraine since President Donald Trump returned to office in January.
US media have reported that Washington and Moscow have been secretly working on a plan to end the almost four-year war.
A source familiar with the draft proposals, cited by AFP, said that the plan would require Kyiv to cede land and cut the size of its army by more than half.
The Kremlin said it had nothing to say about the reports.
Washington and Kyiv have not publicly commented on the proposals.
