US, Ukraine work on “refined” peace plan to end war with Russia
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A Ukrainian soldier is seen during a joint training exercise with U.S. Army troops in Hohenfels, Germany, December 8, 2021. (U.S. Army Photo by Warrant Officer Patrik Orcutt via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service - DVIDS)
By Max Hunder, Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidevin
KYIV/GENEVA - The United States and Ukraine sought on Monday to narrow the gaps in a peace plan to end the war with Russia after agreeing to modify a U.S. proposal that Kyiv and its European allies saw as a Kremlin wish list.
Washington and Kyiv said in a joint statement they had drafted a "refined peace framework" after talks in Geneva on Sunday. Though there were no specifics, the dialogue received a cautious welcome from some of Ukraine's allies.
Ukraine's delegation to the talks with U.S. officials in Switzerland was returning home on Monday to report back, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at new progress.
"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
KYIV BLINDSIDED BY U.S. PLAN
The U.S. blindsided Kyiv and European countries with a 28-point peace plan last week, giving Ukraine until Thursday to agree to a framework to end Europe's deadliest war since World War Two.
The sudden push raises the pressure on Ukraine and Zelenskiy, who is now at his most vulnerable since the start of the war after a corruption scandal saw two of his ministers dismissed and as Russia makes battlefield gains. Zelenskiy could struggle to get Ukrainians to swallow a deal viewed as selling out their interests.
After Sunday's talks, no public statement was released on how the revised plan would handle contentious issues such as how to guarantee Ukraine's security against future Russian threats, or how to fund the rebuilding of Ukraine. Zelenskiy said negotiations were ongoing. The Kremlin said nothing had officially been conveyed to Russia.
KYIV STILL LOOKING FOR COMPROMISES, SAYS ZELENSKIY
"We all continue working with partners, especially the United States, to look for compromises that will strengthen but not weaken us," Zelenskiy said via video link from a separate meeting of Ukraine's allies in Sweden.
Zelenskiy said Russia must pay for the war in Ukraine and that a decision on using frozen Russian assets was crucial.
Trump, who returned to office this year pledging to quickly end the war, has reoriented U.S. policy away from staunch support for Kyiv towards accepting some of Russia's justifications for its 2022 invasion. He has maintained pressure on Zelenskiy to agree to a deal.
Zelenskiy could travel to the United States as soon as this week to discuss the most sensitive aspects of the plan with Trump, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The initial 28-point proposal put forth by the U.S. last week called on Ukraine to cede more territory, accept limits on its military and abandon its ambitions to join NATO - Russian demands that Ukrainians have long rejected.
"Trump's special plan is, in general, a capitulation for Ukraine," said Anzhelika Yurkevych, a 62-year-old civil servant in Kyiv. "I think the Ukrainian people will not agree. Even if they sign, it needs to be implemented, the Ukrainian people will be the ones to do it. And they do not agree with this."
Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv was hit by what officials said was a massive drone attack that killed four people on Sunday. With smoke rising from the rubble, one man was seen crouched and holding the hand of a dead body.
“There was a family, there were children," said Ihor Klymenko, Red Cross Commander of the emergency response team in Kharkiv. "I can't tell you how, but the children are alive, thank God, the man is alive. The woman died, unfortunately.”
Across the border, Russian air defences downed Ukrainian drones en route to Moscow, forcing three airports serving the capital to pause flights. A reported Ukrainian drone strike on Sunday knocked power out for thousands of residents near Moscow, a rare reversal of Russian attacks on energy targets that regularly cause power blackouts for millions of Ukrainians.
EUROPEAN NATIONS ISSUE COUNTER-PROPOSAL
European allies said they were not involved in crafting the original plan. They drew up a counter-proposal which, according to a copy reviewed by Reuters, would cease fighting at present front lines, leaving discussions of territory for later, and include a NATO-style U.S. security guarantee for Ukraine.
"We are, of course, closely monitoring the media reports that have been pouring in from Geneva over the past few days, but we have not yet received anything official," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Some EU leaders met to discuss Ukraine on the sidelines of an EU-African Union summit in Luanda on Monday, with others dialling in via video conference.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Trump had expressed an openness to a jointly developed peace plan for Ukraine.
"And that is precisely what the representatives of Ukraine, the United States of America and the European member states achieved yesterday in Geneva," Merz said in Luanda, describing the outcome of the talks as an "interim result".
"But we also know: Peace in Ukraine won't happen overnight."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said more work needed to be done. "Everybody is absolutely focused on what we need to get out of this, and that is a just and lasting peace."
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said any agreement must not weaken Ukraine or Europe. "This is a delicate matter because no one wants to discourage Americans and President Trump from having the United States on our side in this process."
(Reporting by Max Hunder, Emma Farge, Olivia Le Poidevin, Anna Voitenko, Vitalii Hnidyi, Friederike Heine, Miranda Murray, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Alan Charlish; Writing by Andy Sullivan and Matthias Williams; Editing by Peter Graff, Gareth Jones and Mark Heinrich // REUTERS)
