The United States and Ukraine have been working to bridge their differences over Donald Trump’s 28-point peace plan to end the war after Washington agreed to revise an earlier plan that Kiev criticized as too favorable to Moscow. After the review, Washington and Kyiv described the new proposal as a “refined peace framework”.
After the Geneva meeting, Zelenskiy said: “From now on, after Geneva, there are fewer points – no more 28 – and many correct elements have been taken into account in this framework. Our team has reported on a new draft of steps, and this is indeed the right approach – I will discuss sensitive issues with President Trump.”
What does the new 19-point plan say?
The plan, reduced from 28 provisions to 19, dropped one of the most contentious elements of Trump’s peace proposal — a demand that Ukraine hand over Luhansk and Donetsk, parts of the Donbass, to Russia, according to the New York Post.
Ukraine called the provisions on the cession of the territories of Luhansk and Donetsk to Russia unacceptable.
Reports suggest that US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet later to resolve the territorial issue.
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that while Trump wants to seal the deal quickly and has set a Thanksgiving deadline, there is currently no meeting planned between the two leaders.
Also read | What changes for Putin and Zelensky in Trump’s 28-point peace plan?
Media reports suggest the new 19-point plan removes another controversial clause that requires Ukraine to give up hopes of joining NATO in order to win peace with Russia.
Zelenskyy indicated that the updated plan now contains the “correct” points – indicating that his government may work to make the proposal more favorable to Ukraine.
The old 28-point plan
The original 28-point peace proposal caught many in the US government, Kiev and Europe off guard, raising concerns that the Trump administration could pressure Ukraine into a heavily pro-Russian peace deal.
Zelensky’s European allies against the Trump-backed plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war drafted a counter-proposal that proposed an end to the fighting on the current front lines, including a NATO-style US security guarantee for Ukraine.
Moscow refused. “At first glance, the European plan is … completely unconstructive and does not work for us,” Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said.
The old plan mentioned “recognition of Crimea and other regions (Luhansk and Donetsk) that the Russians occupied, Ukraine reduced its military by more than half, to 400,000 to 600,000 personnel, Kiev gave up all long-range weapons and no NATO security for Ukraine.”
It also proposed stationing European fighter jets in Poland, with provisions that if Russia invades Ukraine again, “all global sanctions will be reinstated, recognition of the new territory and all other benefits of this agreement will be revoked.”
In terms of territory, “Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk will be recognized as de facto Russian, including the United States,” and “Kherson and Zaporizhia will be frozen along the line of contact.”
Russia would also have to give up other territories it controls outside of the five regions.
