Journalism of Courage
Ukraine has revised the US-drafted peace plan for ending the war, removing several Russian demands and reducing the proposal from 28 to 19 points, The Guardian reported. European leaders said on Monday that talks will take time and warned that no quick agreement is likely.
The original plan was written last month by Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Donald Trump’s representative Steve Witkoff. It asked Ukraine to withdraw from cities it controls in the eastern Donbas, reduce the size of its army and stay out of Nato.
During talks in Switzerland on Sunday, led by US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak, Kyiv removed several points. Ukrainian officials and European governments said any negotiation must be based on the current front line. They also insisted that Ukraine alone has the right to decide on joining the EU or Nato.
Rubio called the meeting “very very positive”. Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening.”
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia would seek changes to the revised plan. According to The Guardian, Ushakov said: “We were given some sort of draft … which will require further reworking.” He added that some parts were acceptable but others needed “detailed discussions”.
Also read: No nation deserves Ukraine’s fate: A war it cannot win, a peace it cannot accept
He rejected a separate European proposal, saying: “The European plan … is completely unconstructive and does not work for us.”
European leaders said the talks had gained momentum but stressed that more work is needed.
European Council president António Costa said the direction was “positive”. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called the revised outline “a solid basis for moving forward” but said: “Work remains to be done.”
Von der Leyen added that Ukraine’s sovereignty must be respected and that only Ukraine can decide on its armed forces.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “The next step must be: Russia must come to the table.”
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk warned that the process is sensitive because Europe wants the US fully engaged. “Nobody wants to put off the Americans,” he said.
Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson said Russia “must be forced to the negotiating table” so that “aggression … never pays”.
Ukraine’s delegation briefed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after returning to Kyiv and described the revised plan as more realistic. Zelenskyy also spoke to US vice-president JD Vance and asked for greater European involvement. Vance reportedly agreed.
British prime minister Keir Starmer said progress had been made but more negotiations lie ahead. A group of Ukraine-supporting countries will discuss the plan in a video call on Tuesday.
Parliamentary foreign affairs committee chairs from 20 European nations said peace cannot be achieved by “yielding to the aggressor” and must respect Ukraine’s territory and sovereignty.
The report noted that Zelenskyy is under pressure after a corruption scandal and Russian gains on the battlefield.
Kharkiv was hit by a drone attack on Sunday, killing four people. “There was a family, there were children,” emergency response team commander Ihor Klymenko told Reuters.
Russia said it downed Ukrainian drones heading for Moscow, while a reported Ukrainian strike cut power to thousands near the Russian capital.
