Moscow has repeated its desire to neutralize Ukraine’s military and stop the expansion of NATO through diplomacy—or on the battlefield.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow had received the U.S. proposals for peace in Ukraine and that the plan could be the basis of a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Sir William Browder, whose firm was once the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, said the proposal was "unacceptable" to the Ukrainians and was not a "serious proposal".