President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine told reporters on Tuesday that he was ready to pull his troops back from areas of the eastern Donetsk region still under Kyiv’s control and turn them into a demilitarised zone as part of a possible peace deal with Moscow.
The offer was the closest Zelenskiy has come to addressing the thorny territorial disputes in Donetsk that have repeatedly derailed peace talks, signalling his willingness to compromise after weeks of US-mediated negotiations.
But the proposal also hinted at the significant gaps that remain between Ukraine and Russia. Zelenskiy’s offer of a demilitarised zone came with a condition: Russia would have to pull its forces from an equivalent stretch of land in Donetsk. So far, the Kremlin has given no indication that it is willing to accept anything less than full control over the region.
The proposal forms part of a revised 20-point peace plan that was drawn up by Ukraine and the United States in the past few weeks and that Zelenskiy presented to reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday. The blueprint covers a broad range of issues, from potential territorial arrangements to the security guarantees Ukraine wants to prevent future Russian aggression, as well as plans to rebuild the war-ravaged nation.
Zelenskiy portrayed the plan as Ukraine’s best effort to end the war and said it was now up to Russia to decide how to respond. He said that the new draft was being presented to Russia by the US, and that Ukraine expected a reply by Wednesday evening.
The Ukrainian leader said the various points in the plan “largely reflect the joint Ukrainian American position”. But Ukraine and Washington did not reach an agreement on two sticking points: the fate of Ukrainian-held territory in Donetsk and control of a major nuclear plant currently occupied by Russia. On the second point, Ukraine offered to manage the plant jointly with the US as a form of compromise.
It remained unclear how the proposed Ukrainian concessions not yet accepted by the US would be communicated by US officials to Moscow.
Still, Ukraine’s proposed concessions, even if accepted in full by the US, are likely to be rejected by Moscow. The Kremlin has insisted that its primary goal is a full military takeover of Donetsk – whether achieved on the battlefield or at the negotiating table – and has dismissed any notion of returning the nuclear plant to Ukrainian control.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been briefed about the latest negotiations. “We aim to formulate our future stance and resume our contacts shortly,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Zelenskiy voiced cautious optimism that Moscow would not openly rebuff the new proposal for fear of angering President Donald Trump. If it did, he added, the Kremlin should face serious consequences.
“They cannot tell President Trump: ‘Look, we are against a peaceful settlement,” he told reporters. “That is, if they try to obstruct everything, then President Trump would have to arm us heavily, while imposing all possible sanctions against them.”
“We have come significantly closer to finalising the documents,” he said about a possible peace deal.
As he spoke on Tuesday, the Ukrainian leader was reading from a stack of documents outlining the proposal, along with separate addendums on security guarantees and Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction. Several sentences in the proposal were highlighted in red, marking what Zelenskiy said were the most debated points.
The main point of contention – control over the Donetsk region – has been subject to multiple proposals in recent months. Russia first offered to swap territories it captured elsewhere in Ukraine in exchange for the part of Donetsk it has yet to capture. Ukraine rejected the offer, arguing that it could not cede any land that was not occupied.
A peace proposal drafted by Russia and the US last month then called for Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the areas of Donetsk they currently hold and turn them into a neutral demilitarised zone.
The new draft peace plan Zelenskiy unveiled says Ukraine is ready to build on the idea of a demilitarised zone by expanding it to include not only areas vacated by Ukrainian forces but also Russian-controlled areas from which Moscow would pull its troops.
Zelenskiy emphasised that any Ukrainian pullback should be matched by Russia, though the exact size of the proposed zone remains unclear. In Donetsk, he said, the demilitarised zone could include Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, two Ukrainian-held cities that form Ukraine’s last main defensive belt in the eastern region. A buffer zone administered by international forces would separate the two sides within the demilitarised area.
Territory is perhaps the most difficult issue in a peace deal because it touches on multiple complex factors. Militarily, Ukraine cannot afford to give up heavily fortified areas of Donetsk that could serve as launch points for further Russian attacks. There are also humanitarian concerns related to the relocation of residents. And ceding control over parts of Ukrainian territory could deal a serious blow to national morale.
For all these reasons, Zelenskiy said establishing a demilitarised zone would have to be approved by Ukrainians through a referendum. The proposed plan also says Ukraine will hold elections as soon as possible after a peace deal is signed. Zelenskiy’s own five-year presidential term would have expired in May 2024, but was extended under martial law rules in place since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Zelenskiy described the potential demilitarised areas as a “free economic zone.” While the potential economic opportunities of the war-ravaged territory remain unclear, the phrasing may be intended to appeal to Trump’s business-oriented mindset and to American businesses drawn by Ukraine’s mineral riches in areas close to the front.
The Ukrainian leader said a free economic zone could be established around the Russian-occupied nuclear plant, located near the front line in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. The plant has not been operating since 2022, but as the largest nuclear plant in Europe, with capacity to generate up to six gigawatts of electricity, its economic potential is enormous.
Zelenskiy said the US had proposed that Washington, Kyiv and Moscow share control and profits from the plant. But he added that Ukraine could not agree to trade energy with Moscow. Under the new proposal, he said, the plant would operate as a joint venture between Ukraine and Washington – an offer that Moscow is unlikely to accept.
Other parts of the plan deal more directly with America’s economic interests as part of Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts.
It envisages a new investment fund to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction, with US companies supporting projects in the country, including in the energy sector. The fund would draw on both public and private investors, with Zelenskiy saying the US may contribute $100 billion (€85 billion) and Europe a similar amount. It remains unclear where the money would come from and whether European countries have agreed to the plan. The ultimate goal is to raise up to $800 billion for Ukraine’s rebuilding.
Other points in the proposal relate to the security guarantees Ukraine is seeking. They would include keeping Ukraine’s army at a peacetime strength of 800,000 troops, with funding from western partners; membership in the European Union; European military support; and bilateral security guarantees from the US.
Zelenskiy said European military support would come from the so-called Coalition of the Willing, a group of about 30 countries that have committed to strengthening Ukraine’s postwar security by contributing to its defences in the air, on land and at sea. That could include the deployment of European forces in Ukraine – a non-starter for the Kremlin. – This article originally appeared in the New York Times.