Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled a new willingness to make concessions on several key negotiating points that threatened to paralyze a nascent peace process with Moscow, effectively placing responsibility in Russia’s hands.
In an unusually frank and wide-ranging meeting with journalists on Tuesday, Zelensky gave new details about a 20-point plan that he described as “a fundamental document for ending the war, a political document between us, the United States, Europe and the Russians.”
The Ukrainian president also discussed specific details of security guarantees between Ukraine, the United States and European countries, which would be a crucial part of any peace agreement with Russia.
Zelensky said he expected to receive a response after the meeting between the United States and the Kremlin.
reduced from an original 28-point plan the US previously discussed with Russia.
In his speech, Zelensky outlined what Ukraine considers an acceptable compromise for withdrawing its troops from parts of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine that are not currently under the control of Russian forces.
This area includes the “fortress belt” of fortified Ukrainian cities such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, which currently impede any Russian advance into the heart of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukraine needs to effectively cede the entire Donetsk region for a peace plan to work.
When detailing his country’s position, the Ukrainian president stated that Russia would have to withdraw its forces to an extent equivalent to the territory ceded by Ukrainian troops, establishing, in practice, a demilitarized zone around some of the current front lines.
“If we establish a free economic zone here, which provides for a practically demilitarized zone – which means that heavy forces will be withdrawn from this area – and the distance, for example, is 40 kilometers (it could be five, ten or 40 kilometers) – then, if these two cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, are our free economic zone, the Russians would have to withdraw their troops within five, ten or 40 kilometers,” Zelensky said.
Main points of the plan
Among the other key points of the draft plan presented by Zelensky are the revisions proposed by Kiev:
• An assertion of Ukraine’s sovereignty and a non-aggression agreement between Russia and Ukraine;
• Security guarantees provided to Ukraine by the United States, NATO and European countries, which, according to Zelensky, “would reflect Article 5” – NATO’s fundamental principle of mutual self-defense. The plan calls for a military response and the reinstatement of sanctions against Moscow if Russia invades Ukraine, but the guarantees would be revoked if Ukraine launched an attack against Russia or opened fire on Russian territory without provocation;
• A development package to support Ukraine’s post-war economic recovery, including the creation of a Ukrainian Development Fund to invest in technology, data centers and artificial intelligence, as well as investments in Ukraine’s natural gas sector by American companies. Zelensky estimated that the total economic losses caused by the war reach $800 billion;
• A compromise proposal for the operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, currently controlled by Russia. Zelensky stated that Ukraine proposes that the plant be operated by a joint US-Ukrainian company, with 50% of electricity production going to Ukraine and the rest allocated by the US;
• The withdrawal of Russian troops from the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, in Ukraine;
• A legally binding agreement, with implementation monitored and guaranteed by a Peace Council chaired by US President Donald Trump; and
• A full ceasefire will come into effect immediately once all parties agree to the agreement.
Control of territory is the most complex point of any agreement, along with the possible sequence of events. Zelensky also spoke at length about a possible national referendum in Ukraine that would formalize the end of the war.
“People could then choose: does this outcome suit us or not?” he said.
“That would be the referendum. A referendum requires at least 60 days. And we need a real ceasefire for 60 days; otherwise, we won’t be able to hold it. In other words, the referendum would not be legitimate.”
Zelensky stated that people living in territories cannot be expected to vote fairly.
“But in the territory we control, where a legal and fair referendum can actually be held, the voting and preparation process – as, indeed, in the potential elections that our partners talk about – must take place under safe conditions,” he said.
“Without security, legitimacy is also in question. We explain all of this to our partners.”
Ukraine has been under pressure to hold elections as quickly as possible after signing an agreement.
Putin has long maintained that the government in Kiev is not legitimate and that Ukraine needs to hold elections for a peace deal to work.
Zelensky’s presidential term expires in 2024, but elections cannot be held under martial law imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These war measures were maintained by the Ukrainian parliament.
The Trump administration’s peace efforts – led by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – have been making slow progress in recent weeks.
Over the weekend, a Ukrainian delegation led by Ukrainian National Security Secretary Rustem Umerov and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev met separately with their American counterparts in talks that Witkoff described as “constructive and productive.”
Speaking to journalists on a conference call on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Dmitriev gave Putin “a detailed report on the results of his trip to Miami.
Based on this information, Moscow will define its next steps and continue contacts in the very near future through existing channels.”
Peskov declined to discuss specific details, saying Moscow considered it “counterproductive” to discuss the talks in the press.
