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Ukraine waits for Russia response on new peace plan; territory issue remains unsolved
He was speaking as he detailed the new 20-point plan that emerged from talks held in Miami over the weekend.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expects Moscow’s response on Wednesday to the latest draft proposal aimed at ending the war, which has been finalized between Washington and Kyiv.
“We will receive the Russian response after the American side speaks with them,” Zelensky told reporters, AFP reported.
He was speaking as he detailed the new 20-point plan that emerged from talks held in Miami over the weekend.
He added that consensus was reached on many points after peace talks with US, but “territory is unresolved issue”, AFP reported. The US is set to present Russia with the peace plan on December 24.
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What is the 20-point plan?
Zelensky said the revised plan to end the Russian invasion would freeze the current front line, while still allowing for possible Ukrainian troop withdrawals and the establishment of demilitarised zones.
His suggestion of establishing a demilitarised zone was conditional on Russia withdrawing its troops from a corresponding stretch of territory in Donetsk.
The framework spans a wide range of issues, including possible territorial arrangements, the security guarantees Kyiv is seeking to deter future Russian aggression, and measures aimed at rebuilding the war-ravaged country.
While the Kremlin is not expected to easily give up its hardline territorial claims, Zelensky acknowledged that there are certain elements of the document that he himself does not agree with.
However, Kyiv appears to have succeeded in moving the proposal away from an earlier 28-point US draft that had reflected several of Russia’s core demands.
He said the 20-point proposal, agreed between US and Ukrainian negotiators, is currently under review by Moscow.
What are the changes proposed by Kyiv?
That earlier draft had called for Ukraine to withdraw from the 20 percent of the Donetsk region still under its control and sought formal recognition of Russian-occupied territory as part of Russia.
The requirement that Ukraine legally renounce its bid to join NATO has also been removed from the latest version, although the United States has repeatedly said it does not plan to admit Ukraine into the alliance.
“In the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, the line of troop deployment as of the date of this agreement is de facto recognised as the line of contact,” Zelensky said while describing the updated proposal.
“A working group will convene to determine the redeployment of forces necessary to end the conflict, as well as to define the parameters of potential future special economic zones,” he added.
Kyiv leaves the door open for further negotiations
Zelensky shared details of the 20-point plan during a briefing with journalists in Kyiv on Tuesday, with the comments published early on Wednesday.
The proposal appears to leave the door open to, but delay, steps Ukraine had previously been unwilling to consider, including troop withdrawals and the creation of demilitarised zones.
“We are in a situation where the Russians want us to withdraw from the Donetsk region, while the Americans are trying to find a way,” Zelensky said.
“They are looking for a demilitarised zone or a free economic zone, meaning a format that could satisfy both sides,” he added.
Ukraine has also suggested that Energodar, the Russian-occupied city that hosts the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, could be designated as a demilitarised zone.
Zelensky said that any plan requiring Ukrainian troop withdrawals would need to be approved through a national referendum.
“A free economic zone. If we are discussing this, then we need to go to a referendum,” he said.
The plan also proposes joint US-Ukrainian-Russian management of the Zaporizhzhia power plant, which is currently occupied by Russian forces, though Zelensky said he does not want Russia to have any oversight role at the facility.
He also said Ukraine would only hold presidential elections after an agreement to end the conflict is signed.
