The president of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenskiofficially received this Thursday the draft of the new peace plan from the United States, which he hopes to be able to discuss in the coming days with his American counterpart, Donald Trumpthe Office of the President has reported on its Telegram account. The Ukrainian leader has been open to discussing it as a working document, according to the American media Axios.
For his part, the Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskovhas insisted that Moscow has “nothing new” to comment on the plan, which Russia and the United States have allegedly been secretly working on in recent weeks, behind the backs of Ukraine and Europe. The Kremlin insists on the idea that it has been repeating since the summit held in August in Alaska between the Russian president, Vladimir Putinand Trump: that Russia is open to an agreement “that eliminates the original causes of the conflict.”
Flood of leaks to reactivate the negotiation
Since Wednesday there has been a barrage of leaks from US and Russian officials to different international media about an alleged plan by Donald Trump for peace for Ukraine, which has been followed by another barrage of official and unofficial reactions from all the capitals involved: Moscow, kyiv, Washington and Brussels. All of this has shaken up the negotiations, which have been at a standstill for months.
The details that have emerged outline a text that is very aligned with the Kremlin’s demands. Ukraine would have to rwithdraw from the Donetsk and Lugansk areas that are not yet occupied by Russia (approximately 15%) to hand them over to Russia.
That region would become a demilitarized buffer zone controlled by Russia, according to the Kyiv Post. In exchange, Russia would pay kyiv a kind of annual “rent” for that territorywhich would continue to be, on paper, Ukrainian sovereignty.
Russia would keep the rest of the Donbass that it already controls, and that has joined the Russian Federation and is colonizing de facto. Some media add that Moscow would agree to return part of the areas occupied by the Russian army in the Jershon region and Zaporiya. The front line in the south would be frozen and any further withdrawal would be left for “future negotiations.”
Army reduction
Within those 28 points would also be included the Russian intention to weaken the Ukrainian defense. Ought reduce its Army up to 50% of its current sizel, give up entire categories of weaponry and accept strict limits on the type of foreign military aid it can receive. Among other things, the deployment of foreign troops to Ukrainian territory would be vetoed. This comes into blatant collision with the European proposal of the Volunteer Coalition, which aims to deploy troops to guarantee compliance with a future ceasefire.
Archive – Ukrainian rescue teams. / Europa Press/Contact/Cover Images – Archive
According to press reports, Ukraine would be under pressure to grant official status to the Russian language and grant formal recognition to the Orthodox Church linked to the Moscow Patriarchate, an institution that analysts consider one of the Kremlin’s instruments of hybrid influence.
“Like throwing spaghetti at the wall”
The first analyzes suggest that it could be a balloon probe to get the parties out of immobility, giving each one something of what they want.
“It seems that they wanted to put everything in a single document: the Russian position, the American proposals and a series of misinterpreted Ukrainian proposals, and then see what part may be acceptable to Ukraine, what part may be acceptable to Russia and what will end up being incorporated into the final strategy,” Oleksandr Krayev, from the first Ukrainian think tank, Ukrainian Prism, analyzes from Kiev for EL PERIÓDICO. “To use a well-known metaphor, the plan looks like a plate of spaghetti that is thrown against the wall to see what sticks. “I think right now the American diplomats in the White House are throwing spaghetti against the wall and trying to see what will be accepted by Zelensky and the others.”
There is even confusion about the very origin of the proposal, this analyst points out. In some media it is suggested that it was written by the vice president JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with negotiator Steve Witkoff, before being approved by Donald Trump. Others suggest it could simply be a proposal drafted solely by Whitkoff that was then sealed by Trump after becoming public.
“We see some points that have been proposed by Ukraine. For example, that the talks only held after a ceasefireor references to the continuity of Ukraine’s European integration. But half of the points featured were first raised by Moscow during the Istanbul talks in 2022 and have already been rejected by Ukraine on several occasions. Ukraine cannot sign,” Krayev continues. “This idea of renting the Donbass to Russia for a specific sum of money, paid every year, is ridiculous. I do not see any possibility of this plan being implemented, not in its entirety, but even in parts. “As it stands now, it seems to me that it is not so much a coherent strategy as a set of points that the Americans want to discuss with kyiv and with Moscow and, from there, try to build something new.”
For now, the Europeans have already expressed their rejection because It has been conceived behind the backs of Europe and Ukraine.
