Zelenskyy unveils details of new peace plan, seeks Trump talks on territory 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a meeting with United States counterpart Donald Trump to discuss “sensitive issues” as negotiators inched closer to a final draft of a peace plan, nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy told reporters in an embargoed briefing on Tuesday that US and Ukrainian negotiators had reached a consensus on several points aimed at ending the war, but issues, including territorial control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, remained unresolved.

“We are ready for a meeting with the United States at the leaders’ level to address sensitive issues. Matters such as territorial questions must be discussed at the leaders’ level,” said the Ukrainian leader in comments released by his office on Wednesday.

Zelenskyy’s briefing followed marathon talks in the US state of Florida on the 20-point plan, as Russia reviewed the latest draft. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been briefed by envoy Kirill Dmitriev, and that Moscow was formulating a response.

Donbas ‘most difficult point’

Kyiv has been pressing Washington to modify Trump’s peace plan, which had initially been criticised as a Kremlin wish list, including demands that Ukraine cede more territory, accept curbs on its forces and give up on joining the NATO military alliance.

Zelenskyy said the latest 20-point framework draft was a considerable evolution on the earlier plan, with Ukraine keeping its army at its current strength of 800,000 at peacetime, and additional documents agreed with the US and European allies providing robust security guarantees.

But despite the progress, Ukraine and the US have still not found common ground on territorial issues, particularly on control of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, known as the Donbas. This is “the most difficult point”, Zelenskyy said.

While Kyiv has proposed “to remain where we are”, halting fighting at the current battle lines, Moscow wants it to withdraw troops from all of the eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine still controls about a quarter of the region and has rejected demands to give it up.

With the Kremlin unlikely to abandon its maximalist territorial demands, the US has proposed a compromise arrangement that would transform disputed areas into free economic zones. Ukraine insists that any arrangement must be contingent upon a referendum.

Additionally, there is still no agreement on the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Zelenskyy said. Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is located in territory under Russian military control near the front line. The president said Kyiv was proposing a small economic zone there.

“We are saying: If all regions are included and if we remain where we are, then we will reach an agreement,” Zelenskyy said. “But if we do not agree to remain where we are, there are two options: Either the war continues, or something will have to be decided regarding all potential economic zones.”

The document also proposes the withdrawal of Russian forces from the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, and that international troops be stationed along the contact line to monitor the implementation of the agreement.

“Since there is no faith in the Russians, and they have repeatedly broken their promises, today’s contact line is turning into a line of a de facto free economic zone, and international forces should be there to guarantee that no one will enter there under any guise,” Zelenskyy said.

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine said the key question of territory appears to still be “on the table”, adding that “there has not been anything fleshed out when it comes to exactly how to answer that question.”

She said: “What it offers is a bit more colour in the form of sub-clauses of how peace might be achieved.

“They propose things, for example, like a … monitoring system of the front line. If we look back to the Minsk agreements around 2015, there were issues about how to monitor ceasefire infractions between Russia and Ukraine, so this has historically been an issue of contention.

“He [Zelenskyy] has also said that there are some things that we are probably not ready for, meaning Ukraine, and [he is] sure there are things that Russians are not ready for either, suggesting that both sides may need to make some concessions on these key issues.”

EU membership, reconstruction funds

The draft also ensures that Ukraine will be provided with “strong” security guarantees that mirror NATO’s Article 5, which would obligate Ukraine’s partners to act in the event of renewed Russian assault.

Zelenskyy said a separate bilateral document with the US will outline these guarantees. This agreement will detail the conditions under which security will be provided and will establish a mechanism to monitor the ceasefire. The mechanism will use satellite technology and early warning systems to ensure effective oversight and rapid response capabilities.

“The mood of the United States of America is that this is an unprecedented step towards Ukraine on their part. They believe that they are giving strong security guarantees,” he said.

The draft contains other elements, including Ukraine becoming a European Union member at a specifically defined date, holding elections after the signing of the agreement and accelerating a free trade deal with the US.

Also included are funds for reconstruction and economic investment.

“Ukraine will have the opportunity to determine the priorities for distributing its share of funds in the territories under the control of Ukraine. And this is a very important point, on which we spent a lot of time,” Zelenskyy said.