DREAM / The Prime Minister resigns and wakes up under the Parisian bridge!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Ukraine makes some important changes to US 'peace plan'

2025-11-25 08:30:10Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Ukraine makes some important changes to US 'peace plan'

Ukraine has significantly changed the US "peace plan" to end the conflict, removing some of Russia's maximalist demands, people familiar with the negotiations said, as European leaders warned on Monday that a deal could not be reached quickly.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy could meet with Donald Trump at the White House later this week, according to sources, amid a series of phone calls between Kiev and Washington. Ukraine is pushing for Europe to be included in the talks.

The original 28-point US-Russia plan was drafted last month by Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin's special envoy, and Trump's representative, Steve Witkoff. It calls on Ukraine to withdraw from cities it controls in the eastern Donbas region, limit the size of its army and not join NATO.

During Sunday's negotiations in Switzerland — led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak — the plan was substantially revised. It now includes just 19 points. Kiev and its European partners say the existing front line should be the starting point for territorial discussions.

On Monday, Zelenskyy said: "As of now, after Geneva, there are fewer points, no more than 28, and many precise elements have been included in this framework," adding that sensitive issues would be discussed with Trump.

They say there can be no recognition of land seized by Russia militarily and that Kiev must make its own decisions on whether to join the EU and NATO – something the Kremlin wants to veto or impose conditions on. Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister, Sergiy Kyslytsya, told the Financial Times that such issues had been “put on the shelf” for Trump and Zelenskyy to decide later.

Rubio praised Sunday's talks as "very, very positive." Writing in Truth Social on Monday, Trump, who days earlier had accused Ukraine's leadership of having "zero gratitude," also struck a positive tone.

"Is it really possible that major progress is being made in the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don't believe it until you see it, but something good could be happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!" he wrote.

The Ukrainian delegation briefed Zelenskyy on the talks on Monday, after returning to Kyiv from Geneva. They described the latest version of the plan as more realistic. Separately, Zelenskyy spoke with US Vice President JD Vance and asked him to include European countries in the process. Vance reportedly agreed.

But, in the clearest sign yet, the original 28-point plan - widely seen as favorable to Moscow - still falls short of several key Kremlin demands, with Putin's top foreign policy aide saying on Monday that Moscow will seek to "rework" parts of it.

“We were given a kind of draft… which will require further reworking,” Yuri Ushakov said, adding that “many provisions” of the plan seemed acceptable to Russia, but others would “require more detailed discussions and consideration between the parties.”

Underlining the Kremlin's tough stance, Ushakov said Moscow would reject a European counterproposal from the weekend, which, according to a copy seen by Reuters, changes the meaning and significance of key points regarding NATO membership and territory.

"The European plan, at first glance... is completely unconstructive and does not work for us," he said.

As negotiators tried to revise a framework, Ukraine and Russia counted casualties on Tuesday morning after exchanging deadly attacks overnight.

The acting governor of Russia's Rostov region said at least three people were killed in Ukrainian attacks. Authorities in Kiev said at least one person was killed and seven others were wounded in the capital after a barrage of missiles and drones targeted the country's energy sector.

The UK and EU were stunned last week when the original plan was leaked to the US media. The Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll – Vance’s friend and university classmate – was sent to Kiev with a military delegation to brief Zelensky on its contents.

Since then, European governments have been trying to revise the document, which appears to have been originally written in Russian. EU leaders attending an EU-Africa summit in Angola welcomed a degree of progress but said much more work remained to be done and insisted that Europe must be fully involved and Russia must be present if the talks are to progress substantially.

European Council President António Costa hailed “a new moment,” saying after talks on the sidelines of the summit that while issues remained unresolved, “the direction is positive.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also called the “refined peace framework” agreed in Switzerland “a solid basis for moving forward,” but added: “There is work to be done.”

Von der Leyen said that the core principles that the EU will always insist on are that "Ukraine's territory and sovereignty must be respected - only Ukraine, as a sovereign country, can make decisions regarding its armed forces."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said both Europe and Russia must be fully involved. “The next step should be: Russia must sit at the negotiating table,” Merz said, while Europeans must be able to give their consent on “issues that affect European interests and sovereignty.”

The talks would be a “long-term process” and Merz said he did not expect any progress this week. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the talks were delicate because “nobody wants to discourage the Americans and President Trump from having the US on our side in this process.”

Tusk also stressed that any peace solution must “strengthen, not weaken, our security” and should not “favour the aggressor.” Sweden’s Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, said that Russia “must be forced to sit at the negotiating table” to see that “aggression… is never worth it.”

Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said there was still work to be done but progress was being made. A group of countries that support Ukraine – the coalition of the willing – would discuss the issue in a video call on Tuesday, he said.

The heads of parliamentary foreign affairs committees of 20 European countries, including France, Ireland, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom, issued a rare joint statement saying that a just and lasting peace will not be achieved by “submitting to the aggressor” but must be “based on international law and fully respect the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Ukraine.”

On Monday, the White House pushed back against criticism, including from within the Republican party, that Trump is favoring Russia.

"The idea that the United States is not engaging equally with both sides in this war to bring it to an end is a complete and total mistake," press secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters.

Zelenskyy is in his weakest position since the start of the war, following a corruption scandal that led to the dismissal of two of his ministers, while Russia is gaining ground on the battlefield.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×