They are ready to recognize Russia’s control of Crimea and other occupied Ukrainian territories in order to secure an agreement to end the war.
According to the newspaper, he sent his peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to Moscow to make the proposal directly to the .
The plan to recognize the territory, which violates US diplomatic convention, is likely to go ahead despite concerns from Ukraine’s European allies. A well-informed source said: “It is increasingly clear that Americans are not interested in the European position. They say Europeans can do whatever they want”.
The Russian president said on Thursday that Washington’s legal recognition of Crimea and the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk as Russian territory will be one of the key issues in negotiations on the US president’s peace plan.
The Kremlin announced on Friday that it had received a revised plan to end the war, drawn up after emergency talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Geneva, Switzerland last weekend.
An initial 28-point peace plan, drawn up by Mr Witkov after discussions with Russian officials, proposed “de facto” US recognition of Crimea and the two eastern Donbas regions.
The plan also proposed “de facto” recognition of Russian-controlled territory behind the contact line in Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhia regions following any ceasefire agreement.
Ukrainian delegation in the US over the weekend
In Geneva, Ukrainian and US officials negotiated a new 19-point plan, which is less favorable to Moscow. However, many sources have indicated that the American .
Kiev will not be forced to recognize Russia’s control over territories it has illegally annexed since 2014. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits any president or government from ceding territory without first putting the issue to a national referendum.
Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, and Rustem Umerov, the national security adviser, were expected to travel to Florida to meet with US officials at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort this weekend.
In a new interview with The Atlantic magazine, Mr. Germak, who negotiated the latest peace plan, said: “No sane person today would sign a land grant document. As long as Zelensky is president, no one should count on us to cede territory. He will not sign the land grant. The constitution forbids it. No one can do this unless they want to violate the Ukrainian constitution and oppose the Ukrainian people.”.
Concern of the Europeans
The latest proposal leaves blanks on the most contentious issues, including any final territorial concessions, to be filled in only after personal talks between Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump. The Ukrainian president has not yet announced when he will travel to Washington or Florida to meet his American counterpart.
The apparent offer of recognition from Washington, who have repeatedly ruled out supporting a peace deal that would allow the border to be redrawn by force.
After a meeting of the alliance of the willing on Wednesday, its leaders said: “They were clear from the start that borders should not be changed by force. This remains one of the fundamental principles for maintaining stability and peace in Europe and beyond.”
The European counter-proposal to the original 28-point draft did not include any recommendation to recognize Russian control over Ukrainian territory. “Territorial issues will be discussed and resolved after a full and unconditional ceasefire,” he suggested.
Until now, the US and Europe have refused to recognize Russia’s control of Crimea, the peninsula that Putin illegally annexed in 2014. Recognizing the legitimacy of stolen territory in favor of an aggressive state would be a breach of diplomatic conventions on Washington’s part.
Moscow does not discuss without ceding territories
In a new national security strategy document released by the Kremlin, . Moscow announced the annexation of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia in September 2022, despite never fully conquering Ukrainian territory.
The Kremlin’s continued push for control of the regions shows that Putin has not once considered making concessions to end the nearly four-year-old violent conflict in Ukraine.
The latest revelations will also heighten fears in Europe that Washington will force a suboptimal deal on Kiev to end the war. In recent days, leaked phone calls showed that Trump’s chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff, had instructed Russian officials on how to approach the White House. Leaked talks with Russian negotiators referred to Ukraine’s need to cede Donetsk.
Open intelligence experts have suggested that a European agency could have leaked the information to expose the developing relationship between the presidential adviser and the Kremlin.
