Ukraine and US Draft Air Ceasefire Proposal Ahead of Trump-Zelensky Meeting

Ukrainian and US officials have drafted a proposal aimed at stopping air strikes, with plans to present it to Russia as part of a new attempt to restart peace talks, according to Reuters, which cited a Ukrainian source.

The idea is to get Moscow to agree to some kind of halt on aerial attacks, even if a full ceasefire on the ground remains out of reach. Reuters reported that intelligence services from both Ukraine and the US were involved in the discussions, according to ukrmedia.news.

This isn't the first attempt. A Ukrainian source told Reuters that Kyiv had already put ceasefire proposals in front of Vladimir Putin before, and he rejected them. Some officials now think the calculus may be shifting, betting that continued Ukrainian drone and missile strikes on Russian economic targets, including the Moscow oil refinery hit in a June strike, could pressure Putin to soften his position.

What's Actually Missing From This Story

Reuters via ukrmedia.news was blunt about it: there's no public information on which weapons would be covered, what the geographic or operational scope would be, whether exceptions exist, or how long any pause would last.

More importantly, there's no word on verification. How would either side prove a violation happened? Without an agreed mechanism to record launches and confirm breaches, any ceasefire operates on an honor system, and neither Russia nor Ukraine has much reason to trust the other on the honor system after three-plus years of war.

This is a significant gap. It's the difference between a real agreement and a press release.

The Kremlin's Response So Far

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, was asked about the reports and gave Reuters a classic non-answer, relayed through Interfax. "We do not know how credible these reports are or where they come from," Peskov said. "These are newspaper reports and nothing more. Therefore, it is premature to comment on them at this stage."

He didn't slam the door, though. Peskov added that Moscow has "heard statements that some new formulas may be possible" and said Russia needs to see the actual proposal before reacting. "What happens next will depend on how closely they correspond to our interests," he said.

Separately, on July 24, Peskov told Reuters that Moscow would wait for new US proposals but would keep fighting to achieve its objectives in the meantime. Russia isn't pausing anything while it waits to see paperwork.

Why an Air-Only Deal Matters, and Why It Doesn't Solve Everything

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission found at least 293 civilians killed in Ukraine in June alone, with 1,990 injured. Long-range missiles and drones were the leading cause, responsible for 126 of those deaths and 907 of the injuries, according to figures cited by ukrmedia.news.

If an air ceasefire actually held and covered long-range missiles and drones, it could meaningfully cut civilian casualties in cities far from the front. That's the argument for pursuing it even without a broader deal.

But there are clear limits. An air-only truce wouldn't stop the ground war. Artillery, infantry assaults, and front-line fighting would continue. Critics of a narrow ceasefire could reasonably argue it lets Russia regroup and resupply without giving up any of its territorial gains, while Ukraine still bears the cost of a grinding land war. Neither Reuters nor the other sources report any answer to this concern from Kyiv or Washington.

The Diplomatic Backdrop

This proposal isn't happening in a vacuum. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on July 23 that he'd discussed joint measures with US envoys aimed at ending Russian aggression, and he flagged Patriot missiles and other air defense supplies as an immediate priority while strikes continue, according to Censor.NET.

Zelensky also spoke this week with US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about restarting peace talks, and said Ukrainian and American officials could meet in the US in the coming days, Censor.NET reported.

That meeting is now dated: the White House has confirmed Zelensky will meet President Trump on July 28, according to Censor.NET's reporting. Zelensky is expected to travel to Washington ahead of that.

Also in the mix: the Coalition of the Willing, a European-led group backing Ukraine, renewed its call on July 13 for an immediate and complete ceasefire plus direct Ukraine-Russia negotiations with active US and European involvement. Its co-chairs said they'd step up deliveries of air defense systems, interceptors, and long-range weapons to Ukraine, according to ukrmedia.news.

None of this adds up to a done deal. It's a proposal being drafted, headed toward a Russian side that has rejected similar offers before and is currently saying show us the paper first. The July 28 Trump-Zelensky meeting is the next concrete marker to watch, and whether Washington actually hands Moscow a written proposal with real verification terms in the days after.