Citing an unnamed source, the French news agency AFP reports that the US plan to end the war in Ukraine would require Ukraine to more than halve the number of its troops and give up the occupied Crimea peninsula and some other parts of the territory currently occupied by Russia.

The new revelations come after a report by the American media outlet Axios on Tuesday that the US government, in consultation with Russia, is secretly preparing a new plan to end the war in Ukraine. The 28-point plan is said to be modeled on the one President Donald Trump prepared to end the conflict in Gaza, and is said to focus on four areas - peace in Ukraine, security guarantees, security in Europe, and the future of US relations with Russia and Ukraine.

A huge concession to Russia

According to the alleged draft, Trump's plan would also give Russia some parts of eastern Ukraine that it currently does not control, and in return, the United States would provide both Ukraine and Europe with security guarantees against any Russian aggression, an unnamed American official familiar with the content told Axios today.

Ukraine and its supporters would see such a plan as a huge concession to Russia, and some would see it as a complete capitulation, according to Axios. However, a US official said the White House believes that Ukraine will likely lose the territory anyway if the war continues, so it is"in Ukraine's interest to make an agreement now."

The draft plan is said to have been prepared by a group led by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin's adviser Kirill Dmitriev, according to US media, the Financial Times and the British Guardian. The US and Russian envoys are said to have established an important unofficial channel of communication between Moscow and Washington, but it is not clear whether the Trump administration officially supports the plan.

Meeting with Zelensky canceled

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on media reports today about the preparation of a peace plan for Ukraine, but later said that Moscow was ready to continue negotiations. This was also called for by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Ankara.

Zelensky was also scheduled to meet with Witkoff in Turkey today, but the US envoy canceled the meeting. The Ukrainian president is also expected to meet with senior US Defense Department officials in Kiev in the coming days to discuss further efforts for peace.

According to the aforementioned American plan, Russia is expected to take full control of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, although Ukrainian forces still control about 14 percent of the territory of the two regions, which are also known together as Donbas, according to an estimate by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Although currently largely under Russian control, the areas in Donbas from which Ukraine would withdraw would be considered a demilitarized zone where Russia would not be able to deploy its troops, Axios also states.

In the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, which are also partially occupied by Russia, the front line is said to be largely frozen, according to Axios, with both sides retaining much of the territory they currently control. Russia could also return some of the territory to Ukraine after negotiations.