Zelenskyy says peace proposals to end the war in Ukraine could be presented to Russia in days
KYIV—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says proposals negotiated with US officials on a peace deal to end his country’s nearly four-year war with Russia could be finalized within days, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin before further possible meetings in the United States next weekend.
Zelenskyy told reporters late Monday that a draft peace plan discussed with the United States during talks in Berlin earlier in the day is “very workable.” He cautioned, however, that some key issues—notably what happens to Ukrainian territory occupied by invading Russian forces—remain unresolved.
US-led peace efforts appear to be picking up momentum. But Russian President Vladimir Putin may balk at some of the proposals thrashed out by officials from Washington, Kyiv and Western Europe, including postwar security guarantees for Ukraine.
Consensus
American officials on Monday said there’s consensus from Ukraine and Europe on about 90 percent of the US-authored peace plan. US President Donald Trump said: “I think we’re closer now than we have been, ever” to a peace settlement.
Plenty of potential pitfalls remain, however.
Zelenskyy reiterated that Kyiv rules out recognizing Moscow’s control over any part of the Donbas, which Russia’s army doesn’t fully control.
“The Americans are trying to find a compromise,” Zelenskyy said, before visiting the Netherlands on Tuesday. “They are proposing a ‘free economic zone’ (in the Donbas). And I want to stress once again: a ‘free economic zone’ does not mean under the control of the Russian Federation.”
The land issue remains one of the most difficult obstacles to a comprehensive agreement.
Putin wants all the areas in four key regions that his forces have seized, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory.
