Washington is pressuring Kyiv to accept a plan in which the U.S. recognizes the annexation of Crimea and Ukraine gives up NATO membership – WSJ

The United States is pressuring Kyiv to accept a Washington-backed peace plan that includes U.S. recognition of Crimea’s annexation and a Ukrainian withdrawal from its NATO aspirations.

This information reported according to The Wall Street Journal.

The report states that the U.S. would not recognize Russian sovereignty over the other four Ukrainian regionscurrently occupied by Russian forces (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia), but would also not demand that Russia withdraw its troops from them—meaning they would remain under de facto Russian control.

The U.S. is now awaiting a response from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to this proposal, which is expected to be delivered at a meeting in London this week.

If Ukraine accepts the plan, it would then be presented to Moscow, and President Trump’s envoy Stephen Witkoff may be sent to Russia again.

“Accepting some elements of the Trump administration’s plan may be difficult for Kyiv, as Ukraine has refused to recognize Russia’s legitimate claims to any part of its territory,” the newspaper notes.

According to WSJ sources, another element of the proposal includes designating the area around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as a neutral zone, potentially placed under American oversight.

The plan does not include restrictions on the size or armament of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU).

However, it also contains no mention of security guarantees for Ukraine. The Trump administration has not committed to providing military support to European nations should they decide to send troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping mission.

It’s important to note that European countries such as France and the UK consider U.S. security guarantees for peacekeeping forces in Ukraine to be a key condition—without which they are unlikely to deploy troops.