Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signaled a new willingness to concede on several key points that threatens to stall the nascent peace process with Russia, effectively putting the ball in Russia’s court.
In an unusually candid and wide-ranging meeting with reporters on Tuesday, President Zelenskiy revealed new details about the 20-point plan, which he described as “a fundamental document for ending the war, a political document between us, the United States, Europe and Russia.” The Ukrainian president also discussed security details between Ukraine, the United States and European countries, which form an important part of the peace agreement with Russia.
Zelenskiy said he expected a response from Moscow after the U.S. side spoke with the Kremlin on Wednesday.
The 20-point draft agreement is a streamlined version of the original 28-point plan that the United States previously discussed with the Russian side. In his remarks, President Zelenskiy outlined what he said would be an acceptable compromise for Ukraine if it withdraws troops from areas of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine that are not currently occupied by Russian forces.
The region includes the “fortified zone” of Ukrainian fortified cities such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, and currently stands in the way of potential Russian advances into the heart of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that for the peace plan to work, Ukraine would have to effectively cede all of Donetsk.
Elaborating on his country’s position, the Ukrainian president said Russia must engage in the withdrawal of troops equivalent to the land ceded to it by the Ukrainian military and establish a de facto demilitarized zone around some of its current front lines.
“If we were to establish a free economic zone here, a de facto demilitarized zone, meaning that gravity forces would be removed from this area, and the distance was, say, 40 km (it could be 5 km, 10 km, or even 40 km). “Then if these two cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, are our free economic zone, Russia will have to withdraw its troops accordingly by 5, 10 or 40 kilometers,” Zelenskiy said.
Other important points of the draft plan outlined by Zelensky, including the amendments proposed by Kiev, are:
– Confirmation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and non-aggression pact between Russia and Ukraine.
• The security provided to Ukraine by the United States, NATO, and European countries “reflects Article 5,” NATO’s fundamental principle of mutual self-defense, Zelenskiy said. The plan calls for a military response and reinstatement of sanctions against Russia if Russia invades Ukraine, but those guarantees would be revoked if Ukraine launches an unprovoked attack on Russia or fires on Russian territory.
• A development package to support Ukraine’s postwar economic recovery, including the creation of a Ukraine Development Fund to invest in technology, data centers, and artificial intelligence, and investments by U.S. companies in Ukraine’s natural gas sector. President Zelenskiy estimated the overall economic losses from the war at $800 billion.
– A compromise proposal regarding the operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, currently owned by Russia. Zelenskiy said Ukraine is proposing that the power plant be run by a joint U.S.-Ukrainian venture, with 50% of the output sent to Ukraine and the U.S. allocating the rest.
・Withdrawal of Russian troops from the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Kharkov regions of Ukraine.
• A legally binding agreement whose implementation will be monitored and guaranteed by a peace council chaired by US President Donald Trump. and
• A complete ceasefire will take effect as soon as all parties agree to the agreement.
Control of territory is the most complex point in any transaction, along with the potential order of events. Zelenskiy also spoke at length about the possibility of a referendum across Ukraine to officially end the war.
“People can choose whether this ending suits us or not,” he said. “It would be a referendum. A referendum requires at least 60 days. And there needs to be a real ceasefire for 60 days, otherwise it cannot be held. In other words, the referendum is not legal.”
Zelenskiy said people living in Russian-controlled areas could not expect a fair vote.
“But in the areas that we control, where a legal and fair referendum can actually be held, the voting and preparation process, by the way, as well as any potential elections that our partners are talking about, must take place under safe conditions,” he said. “Without security, there are questions about legitimacy. We explain all this to our partners.”
Ukraine is under pressure to hold elections as soon as possible after signing the agreement. President Putin has long argued that the Kiev government is illegitimate and that Ukraine needs to hold elections for a peace deal to work. President Zelenskiy’s term expires in 2024, but elections cannot be held under martial law imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These wartime measures were supported by the Ukrainian parliament.
The Trump administration’s peace efforts, led by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, have made slow progress in recent weeks. Over the weekend, a Ukrainian delegation led by Ukraine’s National Security Secretary Rustem Umerov and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev met separately with the U.S. delegation, in a meeting that Witkov described as “constructive and productive.”
Speaking to reporters on a conference call on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Dmitriev had given Putin a “detailed briefing on the results of the visit to Miami. Based on this information, Moscow will formulate next steps and continue contacts through existing channels in the very near future.”
Peskov did not elaborate, saying he believed it would be “counterproductive” for Moscow to discuss the negotiations in the press.
