Ukraine would be fast-tracked to join the European Union by 2027 under a peace plan set to be discussed with the United States.
The move has been branded a “crafty” attempt by Kyiv to kick-start its stalled membership talks by forcing the bloc to rewrite its accession procedures.
Kyiv’s EU membership prospects have been featured in each rendition of the US-backed proposal to end the war since its controversial 28-point plan leaked late last month.
But the latest version states that Ukraine would join the bloc by Jan 1 2027, or within around 12 months of any ceasefire.
“You can’t deny Kyiv’s crafty negotiating skills these days,” a diplomatic source told The Telegraph.
Concluding a peace accord featuring an accession timeline would all but cement Ukraine’s place within the EU.
Even the most sceptical officials in Brussels would find it difficult to block the accelerated pathway for fear of plunging the wider peace talks into disarray.
US support for the scheme would provide Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister and an ally of Donald Trump, political cover to quietly drop his opposition to Ukraine joining the EU.
On Thursday, Volodymyr Zelensky said that his negotiators had “shaped our approach to some points in line with the fact that Ukraine will in the future be a member of the European Union”.
He added: “The issue of Ukraine’s future EU membership, depends largely on the Europeans – and on the Americans too, in fact.
“Because if we agree a deal specifying when Ukraine becomes a member of the EU, the Americans, as a party to this agreement, will do everything so that our European path cannot be blocked by others in Europe over whom they have influence.”
Accession to the EU is considered a merit-based system, with 36 steps to complete before the process can be finalised.
The diplomatic source said opening the door in such a fashion to Ukraine could result in a “big bang” expansion.
“You couldn’t admit Ukraine without the other candidate countries,” they added.
There are eight other candidate countries, including Turkey, Albania and Moldova, whose talks over joining the bloc are at differing stages.
One strategy being pushed in Brussels is to create a second tier of EU membership, which would make it easier for states to join while maintaining a process before they can access the key benefits.
“You’d be a member of the club but to gain access to the single market, euro, Schengen, you’d first need to take further steps,” a source said.
The issue of membership is likely to arise at talks in Paris on Saturday between Ukrainian, European and American officials.
Discussions over other contentious issues, such as territorial concessions to Moscow, have also been mooted.
Late on Thursday, Mr Trump suggested that he was “very close” to a deal with both Russia and Ukraine.
The US president’s negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have been piling pressure on the Ukrainian side to surrender the eastern Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as the price for peace.
On Friday, questions were also raised over whether Washington had used the FBI to weaken Kyiv’s negotiating position by offering amnesty from corruption charges to its lead negotiator Rustem Umerov.
It emerged that Mr Umerov, Ukraine’s national security adviser, held highly unusual meetings with FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino during a recent visit to the US, the Washington Post reported.
Back home, Mr Umerov was questioned by investigators as part of a probe into an alleged £75m corruption scandal within the state-owned energy sector.
There is no suggestion that Mr Umerov is involved in the graft and kickbacks allegedly received.
The scandal led to the resignation of Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelensky’s former chief of staff, who many considered the second most powerful man in Ukraine, after his home was raided. He denies wrongdoing.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have recaptured parts of the northeastern town of Kupiansk and several villages around it in an operation that has encircled Russian troops, according to a Ukrainian military commander.
Moscow spent much of November claiming that it had taken full control of the town, with Vladimir Putin even offering journalists access, but Ukraine repeatedly denied it had changed hands.
“Today, we can say that the Russians in the city are completely cut-off. For a long time, they couldn’t understand what was happening. But now they know they are surrounded,” Ihor Obolienskyi, commander of the Khartiia Corps of the National Guard, said.
In a display of strength, Mr Zelensky visited troops near the town.
“Many Russians talked about Kupiansk – we can see. I was here, I congratulated the guys. Thanks to every unit, to everyone fighting here, to everyone destroying the occupier,” he said.
Ukraine’s Deep State battlefield mapping project now shows at least three villages to the north and west of Kupiansk under Ukraine’s control. Kupiansk’s northern districts are also shown as under Ukrainian control and the map suggests Russian troops are encircled in the city centre.
The recapture marks a much-needed morale boost for Ukrainian troops after the Russian leader claimed Pokrovsk, in the eastern region of Donetsk, had fallen into Russian hands.
Kyiv insists fighting is ongoing in the north of the city. Analysts believe Putin claims early victories in cities in order to project an image of strength and gain the upper hand in US-mediated peace negotiations.
Ukraine’s recapture of parts of Kupiansk gives Mr Zelensky and his negotiators ammunition against the narrative that his country’s defeat is inevitable.
Inside Downing Street on Friday, Sir Keir Starmer hosted Bart De Wever, the Belgian prime minister, for talks about a £185bn plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund Kyiv.
Belgium, where £158bn is frozen, is currently blocking the EU scheme over fears it could be left on the hook if Moscow sues over the seizure.
Russia’s central bank launched legal action on Friday against Euroclear, a Belgian-based clearing house, for refusing to release assets held since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
The lawsuit in Moscow could threaten to derail fragile EU attempts to calm Belgium’s nerves ahead of a summit of European leaders in Brussels next week to decide whether to use the assets to guarantee financial aid to Kyiv.
According to sources familiar with the discussions between Sir Keir and Mr De Wever, the Prime Minister sought to alleviate fears by saying Britain would follow any EU decision to use the frozen Russian assets, and Belgium would not be alone in standing up to any Russian retaliation.
