Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to negotiate a 28-point peace plan put forward by the United States in conjunction with Moscow which would involve ceding land to Russia.
Mr Zelensky said he was willing to work on the strategy despite misgivings expressed by some European Union diplomats who said that Europeans also needed to agree any deal.
The plan, which was drawn up by Washington and Moscow, involves Ukraine ceding the eastern Donbas region to Russia and cutting the size of Ukraine’s armed forces in half, while the country would be banned from possessing long-range missiles which could be used to strike inside Russia.
The plan envisages a ban on the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine and a rollback of US military assistance to the country. Additionally, Russian would be made an official state language of Ukraine, and the Russian Orthodox Church would be given official status in appropriate territories.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: “We haven’t seen one single concession from the Russian side, and they are the ones who have started this war,”
“Our approach is to put the pressure on the aggressor to really, stop this. And this is, the message that we are conveying also to our other partners around the world,” she said.
She said that no EU representatives had taken part in the drawing up of the plan, and added: “The EU has a very clear two-point plan: first, weaken Russia; second, support Ukraine.”
Ms Kallas also said: “we have seen this before” – saying “peace plans cannot work if the Europeans and Ukrainians do not agree to this”
However Mr Zelensky agreed to “work on the plan’s provisions in a way that would bring about a just end to the war”, a Ukrainian official said, according to the Telegraph.
“The president of Ukraine outlined the fundamental principles that matter to our people,” the official added.
But White House press secretary, said today that Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, had been quietly working to end the war for the last month.
“Special Envoy Witkoff and Marco Rubio have been working on a plan quietly for about the last month. They have been engaging with both sides, Russia and Ukraine equally, to understand what these countries would commit to in order to see a lasting and durable peace,” Mrs Leavitt said.
“It’s a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine, and we believe that it should be acceptable to both sides, and we’re working very hard to get it done.”
Radek Sikorski, foreign minister of Poland said that a peace plan should seek to contain the aggressor: “We commend peace efforts, but Europe is the main parent, the main supporter of Ukraine, and of course, its European security is at stake, so we expect to be consulted.
“But also, I hope it’s not the victim that has restrictions on its ability to defend itself, but it’s the aggressor whose aggressive potential should be restricted.”
But his equivalent in Lithuania, Kestutis Budrys, foreign minister, sought to look at the positive side.
“I do not see the big tragedy that there are some ideas how to end this war – that is good that it is coming from United States,” he said.
“Look at the positive side. If they are working on it, it means that they are engaging. They are not dropping it for Europe only to deal with.”