The Trump administration's unusual proposal included in the new plan to end the war in Ukraine

The draft agreement was drawn up by presidential emissaries from the US and Russia, but Kiev was only broadly informed of the proposals being discussed, The Daily Telegraph and Reuters write.

A 28-point peace plan proposed by the US for Ukraine includes, according to sources cited by The Telegraph on Thursday, a provision whereby Moscow would gain control of eastern Donbas in exchange for the payment of a “rent fee”.

Kiev would retain legal ownership of the territories, the sources said.

The plan, drawn up, according to sources, by US and Russian presidential emissaries Steve Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, also proposes that Ukrainian forces liberate the remaining unoccupied areas of Donbas, turning them into a “demilitarized zone,” Axios reported Wednesday.

In return, Moscow could make concessions in the partially occupied Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Under the plan, Kiev would also reduce its armed forces, lose some Western weapons and stop hosting foreign troops, according to the Financial Times.

Other concessions by Kiev are included, for example those related to the status of the Russian language and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Trump's mercantilist approach

The idea of ​​”rent” reflects Trump's trade-like approach to international agreements, writes The Telegraph. Moscow would effectively pay a “land tax” to compensate for Ukraine's losses in the mineral-rich Donbas region.

Under Ukraine's Constitution, any transfer of territory requires a referendum, which would likely fail, making a lease agreement a possible solution.

NBC sources said that Ukraine was not involved in the development of the plan and was only informed in broad terms about its content.

A source close to Kiev described the timing – amid a corruption scandal in President Volodymyr Zelensky's government – as a likely attempt by the Kremlin to exploit perceived weaknesses in Ukraine's leadership.

European and American allies also said they had not been informed. A British diplomatic official told Politico that London was not aware of the proposals, despite close ties with US officials.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas signaled on Thursday that Brussels would not accept any negotiated peace initiative without Kiev's knowledge.

A “maximalist fantasy of the Kremlin”

Details of a plan drawn up by the US and Russia to end the war in Ukraine, revealed by several publications on both sides of the Atlantic on Wednesday, angered European capitals, unhappy that once again neither they nor Kiev were included in the talks.

A senior US official, writes the Kyiv Post, dismissed the document as a “maximalist fantasy of the Kremlin”, the kind of extravagant wish list that Washington believes Moscow is circulating to test the West's nerves.

In Europe, skepticism turned to open contempt. Several Western diplomats described the rumors as yet another attempt by Moscow to build momentum for a deal that Kiev would never accept and that the West would surely reject.

The mood in Brussels, Berlin and Paris, writes the Ukrainian publication, was one of irritation rather than alarm, with diplomats calling the whole episode “a well-known Russian trick”.

Ukraine has not publicly commented on the plan, but the international press has written that Kiev considers the proposals in this form unacceptable.

Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andrii Iermak, said on Wednesday that he was in “constant communication” with Trump's team, including emissary Steve Witkoff, and would work with the US to end the war “and ensure a just and lasting peace”.