US and Ukraine edge closer to joint plan to end war – with Moscow’s response uncertain | Ukraine
Washington and Kiev have moved closer to a jointly agreed formula for ending the war in Ukraine due to continued uncertainty about Moscow’s response and a number of unresolved issues.
Announcing the latest status of Washington-brokered peace talks, Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy appears to have made many important concessions from previous versions of the plan, which has now been narrowed down after intense talks with the US negotiating team.
Regardless of whether it is accepted by Moscow or not, this points to Kiev’s success in rewriting the earlier US draft, which was criticized as a Kremlin wish list. Zelenskyy said he expected US negotiators to contact the Kremlin on Wednesday.
In the latest version of the peace plan, Ukraine accepts the principle of a demilitarized zone in eastern regions whose control has long been an obstacle, insisting that Russia make a similar withdrawal of forces.
Details of the offer were sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin by his envoy Kirill Dmitriev, and a Kremlin spokesman said Moscow was preparing its response and would not immediately comment publicly.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Dmitriev briefed Putin on his recent visit to Miami to meet with Trump’s envoys. Peskov declined to be briefed on Russia’s reaction to the proposals or the exact format of the documents, saying the Kremlin would not communicate through the media.
“All the main parameters of Russia’s position are well known to our colleagues in the United States,” Peskov told reporters.
Putin has said in recent weeks that peace conditions require Ukraine to cede the approximately 5,000 square kilometers of Donbas it currently controls and for Kiev to formally abandon its intention to join NATO’s military alliance.
But in the ongoing complex choreography of negotiations, Ukraine will agree to many uncomfortable concessions. This includes withdrawing some Ukrainian troops from territory it controls on the eastern front and abandoning its long-vaunted ambition for NATO membership in exchange for US-European security guarantees that mirror NATO’s Article 5 provision. What these security guarantees would look like remained unclear, at least publicly.
The latest plan also calls for the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions and the deployment of international troops along the line of contact to monitor implementation.
Zelenskyy presented the plan during a two-hour briefing to reporters, reading from a highlighted and annotated version. He argued that the proposals put Ukraine in a stronger position, with Moscow facing the risk of the US supplying Kiev with significantly increased weapons and increasing sanctions if Putin rejects the plan.
Zelenskyy told reporters:[Moscow] I can’t say to President Trump: ‘Look, we are against a peaceful solution. So, if they try to block everything, then President Trump will have to heavily arm us while imposing all possible sanctions against them.
Zelenskyy said about the final draft: “In the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions, the line of deployment of troops as of the date of this agreement is considered the de facto line of contact.”
“A working group will be convened to determine the parameters of potential future special economic zones, as well as the redeployment of forces necessary to end the conflict,” he added.
This appears to indicate that the plan paves the way for the withdrawal of troops and the creation of demilitarized zones, but delays options that Ukraine previously did not want to consider.
“We are in a situation where the Russians want us to withdraw from the Donetsk region, and the Americans are trying to find a way,” Zelenskyy said. “They are looking for a demilitarized zone or a free economic zone, so a format that will satisfy both parties.”
Zelenskyy added that any plan that involves Ukraine withdrawing its troops must pass a referendum in Ukraine. “A free economic zone. If we are discussing this, we need to hold a referendum,” Zelensky said, referring to plans to designate the regions from which Ukraine withdrew as a demilitarized free trade zone.
Zelensky said the following about NATO: “To have or not to have Ukraine is the choice of NATO members. Our choice has been made. We have moved away from the proposed changes to the Ukrainian constitution that would ban Ukraine from joining NATO.”
But Russia has long insisted on full control of Donetsk, and it remains highly unclear whether it would agree to a proposed demilitarized buffer zone or withdrawal of its forces, even as other sticking points remain, including control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Kiev says should be jointly managed by the United States and Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s press conference followed Donald Trump’s efforts to mediate to end the four-year war triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Tens of thousands of people were killed, eastern Ukraine was devastated and millions were forced to flee their homes. Russian troops are advancing on the front lines, hitting cities and Ukraine’s energy grid with nightly missile and drone bombardments. Another Ukrainian settlement was captured in the southern Zaporizhia region, Russia’s defense ministry said on Wednesday.
In addition to the Crimean peninsula it captured in 2014, Moscow claimed to annex four Ukrainian regions (Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia) in 2022.
