Zelensky: Ukraine has given US negotiators proposals for ending the war with Russia

KYIV - President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug 11 that Ukraine had handed proposals to US negotiators for a plan to end the war with Moscow and suggested that Russia would use its parliamentary election in September as a pretext to declare a new mobilisation.

Zelensky’s announcement of fresh proposals for peace talks, largely stalled since the outbreak of the conflict with Iran, comes amid suggestions by both Russia and Ukraine that US negotiators would soon pay a visit to their two countries.

“We have conveyed our proposals to the American side,” Zelensky said, in his nightly video address.

“And the United States can help strengthen our defence, first and foremost with air defence, and put pressure on Russia so that its plans are different - to prepare for an end to the war rather than prolonging it.”

Zelensky offered no details on the proposals.

US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were last in Moscow last January and have not yet visited Kyiv.

Ukraine has repeatedly called for a ceasefire after nearly four and a half years of fighting. Russia says it wants a settlement, but any solution must involve Ukraine fully ceding four regions Moscow claims as well as resolving the conflict’s “root causes.”

In his remarks, Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence had evidence that Russia would exploit its September “pseudo-election” - a reference to restrictions imposed on the polls - to proclaim a new mobilisation to boost the numbers of fighting personnel.

“They are preparing for mobilisation in the autumn, immediately after the imitation of parliamentary elections,” Zelensky said, as part of a plan to “create the appearance that Russians supposedly support the war.”

“Then, following the so-called election, he plans an additional rapid mobilisation of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year, plus another similar number next year.”

The draft, he said, would be in addition to recruitment through the conclusion of contracts with servicemen.

The Putin-backed United Russia Party and other broadly pro-Kremlin parties are set to retain their dominance in the Russian parliament after the vote.

Russia’s Supreme Court on Aug 10 barred the liberal Yabloko party, the only officially registered party that opposes Moscow’s war in Ukraine, from competing in the election.

Russia declared a “partial mobilisation” in 2022 after the launch in February of its full-scale invasion. Zelensky has previously suggested that Moscow would introduce a new mobilisation.

Russian officials have declined to discuss the issue.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, one of Russia’s most ardent hawks, said in July that Russia needed no new mobilisation as 200,000 volunteers had signed contracts in the first half of 2026. REUTERS