President Donald Trump will send special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow next week, while Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll is expected to meet with Ukrainian officials in the coming days as Washington ramps up diplomatic efforts to end the looming conflict. 4 years old Conflict.
President Trump’s original 28-point peace plan was amended after European leaders said it was a capitulation to Russian demands, including keeping territory occupied by Russia in Ukraine.
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Trump told reporters on Air Force One that a revised peace plan that appears to make more demands on Ukraine is “making progress,” adding that Kiev is certainly “satisfied.”
Al Jazeera detailed the controversial 28-point peace plan leaked last week, which was developed with limited cooperation from Ukraine. It included plans for Ukraine to completely cede the eastern region of Donbas, reduce its military forces, and completely abandon plans to join the NATO defense alliance. The plan faced strong opposition in Ukraine and the European Union, with critics saying the deal would reward Russia for invading its smaller neighbor.
Meanwhile, a leaked audio recording of Witkov advising Russian diplomats on how to sell deals with Ukraine has drawn criticism in Europe.
Details of the thoroughly revised 19-point peace plan have not yet been revealed. Here’s what we know about what may have changed, based on statements from American and Ukrainian officials.
What was your initial plan?
The proposed 28-point peace plan was made public last week after Ukrainian officials leaked it to international media. US media reported that it was developed by Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner and Witkoff. The two men met with Russia’s top diplomat Kirill Dmitriev and Ukraine’s chief of national security adviser Rustem Umerov beforehand, then drew up a plan and presented it to President Trump, who gave him the go-ahead.
The plan proposed, among other things, a de-escalation and buffer zone, that Ukraine would receive security guarantees from the United States at its own expense, and that Russia would refrain from further aggression against Ukraine or its neighbors.
It also proposed that Moscow enshrine a nonaggression policy toward Europe, exchange civilians and prisoners on both sides, grant amnesty to the warring parties, and end efforts to prevent Ukraine from using the Dnipro River to transport grain across the Black Sea.
However, Article 21, which discusses territorial concessions, is controversial because it proposes to cede parts of eastern Ukraine, including the Russian-annexed Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions that make up the fertile Donbas, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia to Russia. The proposal also called for limiting the number of military personnel in Ukraine to no more than 600,000 and for Kiev to enshrine in its constitution that it would not join NATO.
What was your reaction?
In Ukraine, an angry public criticized the plan as favoring Russia, but officials immediately turned to American negotiators for relief.
Ukraine’s European allies, who have largely participated in no negotiation attempts, also voiced opposition to the deal. Britain, France and Germany, collectively known as Europe’s E3 powers, announced an alternative peace deal over the weekend proposing that Ukraine be free to join NATO based on an agreement within the alliance. European partners also said the number of troops in Ukraine’s armed forces should be limited to 800,000.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned in a statement on Sunday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa that the US-led plan would make Ukraine even more vulnerable to Russian aggression. He said the European Union does not support forced territorial concessions and will not accept an agreement that does not reflect “the centrality of the European Union” in securing peace in Kiev. However, the peace plan itself only prevents Ukraine from joining NATO, not the EU.
“A credible and sustainable peace plan must first and foremost stop killings and end wars, but not sow the seeds of future conflict,” he said.
Speaking in the European Parliament on Wednesday, von der Leyen reiterated that “any peace agreement must ensure European security without leaving the possibility of ‘dividing’ European countries or changing borders ‘by force’.”
Ukraine has long opposed Russia’s persistent demands for its territory, saying such concessions are not allowed by law and require a referendum. Many Ukrainians reject the idea of any semblance of surrender after four years of devastating war, as the devastated country continues to suffer heavy losses from Russian shelling.
What are the new proposals?
A new 19-point peace plan emerged this week following two days of talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Geneva that ended on Sunday. The talks were led by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak and diplomat Umerov, and U.S. officials included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Driscoll, Kushner and Witkov.
The Ukrainian President’s Office said in a statement that the talks were “constructive” and that the final decision on a refined agreement would be taken by the presidents of Ukraine and the United States, without giving details.
Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kislysha, who attended the Geneva talks, told the Financial Times that the talks were “intense” and nearly collapsed before they began. However, the resulting draft generated “positive” feelings on both sides, he said, adding that the most sensitive topics – territorial issues and Ukraine’s future in NATO – were left to the judgment of Presidents Trump and Zelensky.
“We have developed a solid body of convergence and some points where we can compromise,” Kislisha told the FT. He said, “Very little remains from the original version.”
The US appears to be willing to remove the 600,000-member cap on Ukraine’s military, the official said. “They agreed that the Ukrainian military numbers included in the leaked version are no longer on the table, no matter who created them,” Kislitsia told the FT. He added that the proposal for a blanket amnesty for potential war crimes had been rewritten to address “the grievances of those who suffered in the war.” Separately, an anonymous White House official said changes were also made to the previous peace deal’s restrictions on NATO troops in Ukraine, according to the New York Times. Russia has previously claimed, without evidence, that NATO forces are fighting in Ukraine.
What does Russia want?
Kislysha emphasized to the FT how willing the US delegation is to listen to the Ukrainian side and consider all the issues raised point by point. But with Russia not at the table, there is no guarantee that President Vladimir Putin will accept the deal.
“Obviously, Russia has a vote here as well,” Rubio said at Sunday’s Geneva talks, acknowledging that it would be difficult to get buy-in from Moscow.
A potential point of contention remains the issue of territorial cession. After invading Ukraine, Russia unilaterally declared the annexation of the fertile and mineral-rich regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia, and has continued to control a significant portion of the territory ever since. Prior to this, Russia forcibly annexed Crimea in 2014.
Putin has pursued extremist goals throughout the war, sticking to his demands, including full possession of all five territories from 2022 onwards. The Kremlin’s position has remained largely unchanged despite President Trump’s efforts to reach an agreement at a summit in Alaska in early August.
There is also the issue of Ukraine’s membership in NATO, which Russia strongly opposes.
As for lifting the cap on Ukrainian military personnel, it is not yet clear whether Russia will agree to increase the number. In the first peace talks in 2022, Russia proposed keeping Ukraine’s military strength to no more than 100,000, far less than the 600,000 troops mentioned in the US’s initial peace plan.
What’s next?
President Trump and President Zelensky will now need to meet to decide on final aspects of the new agreement. President Trump initially set a Thursday deadline for Ukraine to formally agree to the deal, but said late Tuesday there was no more specific deadline.
It remains unclear when the meeting will take place as the US enters the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt told reporters Tuesday that there are “no plans at this time” for a meeting.
Zelenskyy told a videoconference on Tuesday of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, a group of 30 countries supporting Ukraine, that Kiev was ready to “move forward” towards a new “framework” but that “sensitive points” still needed to be addressed.
Importantly, Washington also now needs to get Moscow to agree to the revised draft.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on the plan on Tuesday, saying his side had not seen it, but warned that it should reflect the “spirit and letter” of the meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska, adding that if key conditions were erased, “it would be a fundamentally different situation[for Russia]. Putin reiterated Russia’s stated goals at the meeting.”
In a post on his Truth social media network, President Trump said he looked forward to achieving peace.
“In hopes of finalizing this peace plan, I have directed Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with President Putin in Moscow, and at the same time Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart,” Trump wrote.
“I look forward to meeting with President Zelenskiy and President Putin, hopefully soon, but only when an agreement to end this war is final or in the final stages. Thank you for your attention to this very important issue. Let’s all hope that peace will be achieved as soon as possible!”
Meanwhile, U.S. Army Secretary Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday with the aim of conveying the new agreement to Moscow ahead of Witkoff’s visit next week. It’s unclear what was discussed, but a spokesperson for Driscoll told reporters: “Negotiations are progressing well and we remain optimistic.”
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the peace plan was not discussed in the talks with U.S. officials in Abu Dhabi.
Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said there is a lot of “uncertainty” in the Kremlin at the moment. He said the Russian side was not satisfied with the revised peace plan because it implied concessions to Russia.
