Ukraine’s president appears to be preparing his country for the heart-wrenching concessions demanded in an American peace plan that would grant Russia permanent control over large swaths of its territory.

This is “truly one of the most difficult moments in our history,” Volodymyr Zelensky said after discussing the plan Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.

In a televised address, Mr. Zelensky told his compatriots their nation faces a difficult choice between losing its dignity or losing the United States as a partner.

“Either the difficult 28 points, or an extremely harsh winter,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, sounded much happier about the Trump administration’s 28-point proposal, saying for the first time that it “could form the basis of a final peace settlement.”

The plan to end the war after almost four years of brutal combat would allow Russia to keep lands it has seized plus the remainder of two eastern provinces still in Ukrainian hands.

It would also limit the size of Ukraine’s military and block it from ever joining NATO in exchange for poorly defined “NATO‑style security guarantees” that fall short of requiring an American military response to a future invasion.

Mr. Putin appeared to be enjoying his Ukrainian counterpart’s discomfort during a meeting of Russia’s National Security Council.

“This text has not been discussed with us in any substantive way, and I can guess why,” Mr. Putin said.

“The U.S. administration has so far been unable to secure the consent of the Ukrainian side. Ukraine is against it. Apparently, Ukraine and its European allies are still under illusions and the dream of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield.”

Mr. Zelensky, however, faces even grimmer times ahead if he fails to go along.

Reuters reports that he has been told that America could cut off intelligence sharing and weapons deliveries if he rejects the plan, which also lays the groundwork for future commercial relations between America and Russia. 

He could still count on limited support from Western European leaders, who remain more leery of Mr. Putin than the Trump administration.

Such help has been promised by the leaders of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, who spoke by phone with Mr. Zelensky after the American proposal was first reported.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the right to “determine its future under its sovereignty” was a fundamental principle to Ukraine.

The European concerns about Russia will persist even if the war in Ukraine ends. Analysts have warned that Moscow could attack a NATO country by the end of the decade if its forces are no longer tied up in Ukraine.

Germany is trying to create Europe’s largest conventional army in the face of increased aggression by Russia, which conducts hybrid warfare activities against Germany and has repeatedly sent drones and aircraft into NATO airspace.

“We are seeing a big threat, and the threat is Russia. And this threat is not only on Ukraine. It’s on our peace, on our freedom, on the political order of Europe,” Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said in an interview this summer.