U.S. President Donald Trump has endorsed a 28-point plan for peace between Russia and Ukraine , quietly developed in recent weeks by senior administration officials in consultation with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Ukrainian officials, NBC News reports, citing a senior administration official.
According to the source, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were involved in developing the plan. "The plan focuses on providing security guarantees to both sides to ensure a lasting peace. It includes elements that Ukraine wants and needs for a stable peace," the official told NBC.
However, Moscow has stated that it has not received any information from the US through official channels regarding the peace plan . Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that "if the American side had any proposals, they would have communicated them through the channels used between the foreign ministries of the two countries."
The plan calls for Kiev to cede to Moscow parts of eastern Ukraine that it does not currently control and to reduce its military, in exchange for an unspecified US security guarantee for Ukraine and Europe against future Russian aggression.
The plan for Kiev is structured around four main areas: peace in Ukraine, security guarantees, security in Europe, and future US relations with Russia and Ukraine. Moscow would gain full de facto control of Lugansk and Donetsk, or Donbass . While coming under Russian control, the areas of Donbass from which Ukraine would withdraw would be considered a demilitarized zone, with no possibility for Moscow to station troops there. In two other war-torn regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, current front lines would be mostly frozen, with Russia handing back some territory through negotiations . The United States and other countries would recognize Crimea and Donbass as legitimate Russian territories , but Kiev would not be obligated to do so. There would also be limitations on the size of the Ukrainian army and its long-range weapons .
A peace plan that appears to have had no input from Kiev or the Europeans. And the White House would like to present it as a fait accompli to Zelensky, convinced that, under pressure both militarily and domestically (due to an embarrassing corruption scandal), he will have to accept it.
(Unioneonline)