FT: Ukraine agrees to limit army size amid US peace talks

Ukraine has reportedly agreed to limit the size of its armed forces to 800,000 personnel as part of ongoing efforts to advance a peace plan aimed at ending the war with Russia.

Unnamed Ukrainian officials told Financial Times that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump would still need to discuss the most sensitive elements of the plan, including territorial issues and US security guarantees. “Kyiv had agreed to cap its army at 800,000,” the officials said.

The proposed US peace plan, leaked last week, consists of 28 points. Rumors suggested one clause originally called for capping the Ukrainian army at 600,000 troops, along with other concessions favoring Moscow.

A Ukrainian delegation traveled to Geneva for talks with US officials to revise the most contentious aspects of the plan. Following the discussions, Oleksandr Bevz, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, confirmed that several points had been removed, while others were revised.

An informed source cited by RBC-Ukraine added that after the Geneva meeting, the plan would no longer include strict limitations on the size of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Speaking on November 25, Rustem Umerov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, noted that President Zelenskyy could visit Washington to meet with President Trump to finalize the peace plan “on the next available date in November.”

By Vafa Guliyeva