 "Ukraine makes significant changes to US ‘peace plan’ as Europe warns no deal is close: Report")
Ukraine has substantially amended the US-backed “peace plan” to end the war, stripping out several of Russia’s most maximalist demands, according to a Guardian report, citing people familiar with the negotiations.
According to the report, the peace plan was substantially revised during negotiations on Sunday in Switzerland — led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak — and reduced from 28 points to 19.
European leaders warned on Monday that no agreement is close, noting that Kyiv and its European partners insist the current front line must serve as the basis for any territorial discussions.
They also maintain that territory seized by Russia cannot be recognised and that decisions on joining the EU or Nato must remain Ukraine’s alone — positions Moscow seeks to challenge, added the report.
The original US-Russian proposal, drafted last month by Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Trump’s representative Steve Witkoff, called on Ukraine to withdraw from key cities in the eastern Donbas, cap the size of its military, and drop its Nato ambitions.
Meanwhile, the report said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could meet US President Donald Trump at the White House later this week, amid intensified contacts between Kyiv and Washington. Ukraine is also pressing for Europe to be brought formally into the talks.
Rubio described Sunday’s talks as “very very positive.” Trump, who days earlier accused Ukraine’s leadership of showing “zero gratitude,” echoed the upbeat tone in a post on Truth Social on Monday.
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View All“Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” he wrote.
Zelenskyy briefed on new peace plan
Ukraine’s delegation on Monday briefed President Zelenskyy after returning from Geneva, telling him the latest version of the peace plan was more realistic.
Separately, Zelenskyy spoke with US Vice-President JD Vance and urged him to involve European countries in the process — a proposal Vance reportedly supported, reported The Guardian.
In the strongest indication yet that the original 28-point plan — widely viewed as favourable to Moscow — still fails to meet several of Russia’s key demands, President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide said Monday that Moscow would seek to “rework” parts of it.
“We were given some sort of draft … which will require further reworking,” The Guardian quoted Yuri Ushakov as saying, adding that “many provisions” of the plan appeared acceptable to Russia, but others would “require the most detailed discussions and review between the parties”.
Underscoring the Kremlin’s hardline stance, Ushakov said Moscow would reject a European counter-proposal from the weekend, which, according to a copy seen by Reuters, changes the meaning and significance of key points concerning Nato membership and territory.
“The European plan, at first glance … is completely unconstructive and does not work for us,” he said.
The UK and EU were caught off guard last week when the original peace plan was leaked to US media. US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll — a close friend and former university classmate of Vice-President JD Vance — was dispatched to Kyiv with a military delegation to brief President Zelenskyy on its contents.
Since then, European governments have pushed to revise the document, which appears to have been originally drafted in Russian.
EU leaders attending an EU–Africa summit in Angola welcomed signs of movement but stressed that substantial work still lies ahead, insisting Europe must be fully involved and that Russia must be present for any meaningful progress in the talks.
With inputs from agencies
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