Moscow is reportedly unhappy with changes to a controversial US draft plan which leaked earlier.
United States President Donald Trump is sending Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow next week, while Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll is expected to meet Ukrainian officials in the coming days, as Washington intensifies diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-year-old conflict.
Trump’s initial 28-point peace plan was modified after European leaders called it a capitulation to Russian demands, which included Moscow keeping captured Ukrainian territories.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said “we’re making progress” on a revised peace plan that appeared to award Ukraine more of its demands, and added that Kyiv was indeed “happy”.
media detailed the controversial 28-point peace plan after it leaked last week, developed with limited input from Ukraine. It included plans for Ukraine to cede the eastern Donbas region entirely, cut its military might, and completely abandon any plans of joining the NATO defence alliance. The plan met with strong pushback in Ukraine and the European Union, as critics said the deal would reward Moscow for invading its smaller neighbour.
Meanwhile, a leaked recording, which shows Witkoff advising a Russian diplomat on how to sell a Ukraine deal, has prompted criticism in Europe.
Details of a thoroughly revamped 19-point peace plan are still emerging. Here’s what we know about what may have changed based on statements from American and Ukrainian officials:
The proposed 28-point peace plan was made public last week after a Ukrainian official leaked it to international media outlets. The US media reported that it was developed by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, and Witkoff. Both had earlier met with top Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev and Ukraine’s chief national security adviser Rustem Umerov, before developing and presenting the plan to Trump for a green light.
Among other things, the plan proposed de-escalation and buffer zones, that Ukraine would receive security guarantees from the US that it would have to pay for, and that Russia would take no further aggression against Ukraine or its neighbours.
In Ukraine, angry citizens criticised the plan, which they said favoured Russia, while officials swiftly reached out to American negotiators for redress.
Ukraine’s European allies, too, who have been largely sidelined in the negotiation attempt, spoke out against the deal. Britain, France and Germany, collectively known as Europe’s E3 powers, released an alternative peace deal over the weekend, which proposed freedom for Ukraine to join NATO based on agreements within the alliance. The European partners also said Ukraine’s military should be capped at 800,000 members.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in a Sunday statement on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in South Africa, warned that the US-led plan would leave Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian aggression. The European Union, she said, would not support forceful territorial concessions nor would it accept a deal that did not reflect “the centrality of the European Union” in securing peace for Kyiv – although the peace plan itself only stops Ukraine from joining NATO, not the EU.
“Any credible and sustainable peace plan should first and foremost stop the killing and end the war, while not sowing the seeds for a future conflict,” the Commission president said.
Addressing the European parliament on Wednesday, von der Leyen reiterated: Any peace agreement must ensure European security without leaving open the possibility of “carving up” European countries or changing borders “by force”.
What was the first plan?
Ukraine has long pushed back against Russia’s insistent demands on its territory, saying that such concessions are not allowed by law and would require a referendum. As the battered country continues to suffer heavy losses under Russian bombardment, many Ukrainians reject the idea of what seems like a surrender after nearly four years of devastating war.
A new 19-point peace plan emerged this week, following two days of talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Geneva that ended on Sunday. The talks were led on Ukraine’s side by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak and diplomat Umerov, while US officials present included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Driscoll, Kushner and Witkoff.
“We developed a solid body of convergence and a few things we can compromise on,” Kyslytsya told The FT. He said that “very few things are left from the original version”.
Kyslytsya stressed to The FT how willing the US delegation was to listen to the Ukrainian side and to review all the issues raised point by point. However, with Russia not at the table, there are no guarantees that President Vladimir Putin will accept the deal.
“Obviously, the Russians get a vote here too,” Rubio said at the Geneva talks on Sunday, acknowledging the challenge of getting a yes from Moscow.
Potential contentious points remain the issue of ceding territory. Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine, unilaterally declared its annexation of the fertile, mineral-rich Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia provinces, and has kept control of significant chunks of territory there since. Previously, in 2014, Russia forcefully annexed Crimea.
Putin has pushed for maximalist goals through the war and has stuck to his demands since 2022, including to fully claim all five territories. The Kremlin’s stance has largely remained unchanged despite negotiation efforts by Trump, who feted Putin at a summit in Alaska that resulted in no agreements earlier in August.
There’s also the matter of NATO membership for Ukraine, which Moscow has vehemently objected to.
Regarding the uncapping of Ukraine’s military membership, it’s not clear yet if Russia will agree to a higher number. In initial peace talks in 2022, Russia proposed that Ukraine have no more than 100,000 troops, far fewer than the 600,000 troops mentioned in the first US peace plan.
Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy will now have to meet to decide the final aspects of the new deal. Trump initially gave a deadline of Thursday for Ukraine to formally agree to the pact, but said later on Tuesday that there were no more firm deadlines.
It is unclear yet when a meeting will be held as the US winds down for the Thanksgiving holidays on Thursday. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that “there are no plans at this moment” for a meeting.
Speaking at a video conference of the so-called coalition of the willing – a group of 30 countries supporting Ukraine – on Tuesday, President Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to “move forward” with the new “framework”, though he still needed to address “sensitive points”.
Importantly, Washington will now also have to get Moscow on board with the revised draft.
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