The 28-point peace plan was crafted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and the Kremlin, without Ukraine’s involvement.
The 28-point peace plan was crafted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and the Kremlin, without Ukraine’s involvement.
An American proposal to end the war in Ukraine puts the country in a delicate diplomatic position — caught between placating its most important ally, the United States, and not capitulating to Russia, its much larger neighbor that launched a full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.
The 28-point peace plan was crafted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and the Kremlin, without Ukraine’s involvement. It acquiesces to many Russian demands that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the proposal late Friday, saying it “could form the basis of a final peace settlement” if the U.S. can get Ukraine and its European allies to agree.
Striking a diplomatic tone Thursday in his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskyy said his country needs a peace that ensures Russia does not invade again. He said he would work with the European Union and the Americans.Territorial concessions
THE PROPOSAL: The plan says it will confirm Ukrainian sovereignty while also stating that Crimea and the Luhansk and Donetsk regions will be recognized as de facto Russian land, including by the United States. According to the proposal, the borders of the other two regions Russia has partially occupied and claimed as its own — Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — will be frozen along the front line.
Because Russia does not control all of Luhansk and Donetsk, the plan would, in effect, see Ukraine withdraw from areas Russia has not been able to claim in the fighting. This withdrawal zone would be considered a neutral demilitarized buffer zone, internationally recognized as belonging to Russia.
The proposal also says Russia would relinquish other territories it controls outside the five regions, which could include the northeast Sumy region, where Russian forces have crossed the border, and areas around the eastern Kharkiv region that border Russia, although the details are unclear.
