By Gloria Ogbonna
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered his clearest signal yet that Kyiv may be prepared to make difficult territorial compromises in pursuit of ending Russia’s nearly four-year war against Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said he would be willing to withdraw Ukrainian troops from parts of the country’s eastern industrial heartland—the Donbas—if Russia agrees to do the same and the contested territory is transformed into a demilitarized free economic zone monitored by international forces.
The proposal represents a significant shift in tone and substance, as control of the Donbas region has long stood as one of the most intractable obstacles in any peace negotiations with Moscow.
Zelenskyy emphasized that such a move would only be possible if strict international guarantees were in place to prevent renewed aggression and ensure that neither side exploits the withdrawal.
According to the Ukrainian leader, a similar framework could also be applied to the area surrounding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, which is currently under Russian occupation.
Zelenskyy stressed that any comprehensive peace agreement, including territorial arrangements, would ultimately be subject to approval by the Ukrainian people through a national referendum.
Zelenskyy’s remarks followed discussions on a 20-point overarching peace framework developed jointly by Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators during meetings held in Florida over the past several days.
While he acknowledged that many elements of the plan remain under negotiation, he said the talks marked meaningful progress toward narrowing differences between Kyiv and Washington.
Russia, however, has shown no public willingness to reciprocate. Moscow has not indicated that it would withdraw troops from occupied territories and has instead continued to demand that Ukraine surrender the remaining areas of the Donbas still under Kyiv’s control—an ultimatum Ukrainian officials have firmly rejected.
Russian forces currently occupy nearly all of the Luhansk region and approximately 70% of Donetsk, the two regions that together form the Donbas.
Asked to comment on the emerging proposal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Russia would formulate its official position after receiving a report from Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian presidential envoy who met with U.S. representatives in Florida over the weekend. Peskov declined to provide further details, offering no indication of whether Moscow would consider the plan.
The negotiations come amid an intensified diplomatic push by the United States. Since President Donald Trump unveiled a peace proposal last month—one that critics say leaned heavily in Russia’s favor—American negotiators have engaged in separate talks with both Kyiv and Moscow.
Ukraine and its European allies have since worked to reshape the framework to better align with Ukraine’s core interests and security concerns.
Zelenskyy described the question of Donbas control as “the most difficult point” in the entire negotiation process. He explained that establishing a free economic zone there would require complex and sensitive discussions, including how far each side’s forces would need to pull back and where international peacekeeping or monitoring units would be stationed. Such decisions, he said, must ultimately be resolved at the highest political level.
The draft U.S.-Ukraine framework also calls for Russian forces to withdraw from several other regions, including Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv. Zelenskyy said international forces could be deployed at specific locations along the current contact line within the proposed free economic zone to verify compliance and monitor the ceasefire.
“There is no faith in the Russians, because they have repeatedly broken their promises,” Zelenskyy said. “That is why today’s contact line is effectively becoming the line of a future free economic zone, and international forces must be there to ensure that no one enters under any disguise—neither ‘little green men’ nor Russian soldiers pretending to be civilians.”
Ukraine is also proposing that the occupied city of Enerhodar, which lies closest to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, be designated as a demilitarized free economic zone. Zelenskyy said this issue alone required 15 hours of negotiations with U.S. officials, yet no agreement was reached.
At present, the U.S. has suggested that the nuclear plant be jointly operated by Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia, with each party holding an equal 33% stake. Zelenskyy dismissed the idea as unrealistic, questioning how Ukraine could engage in joint commercial operations with Russia after years of invasion and destruction.
Instead, Kyiv has proposed a joint venture with the United States, in which Washington would control a 50% share and independently decide how to distribute energy, potentially including allocations to Russia.
Zelenskyy noted that restarting the plant would require billions of dollars in investment, including major repairs to critical infrastructure such as the nearby dam.
Beyond territorial and economic issues, the draft agreement includes what Zelenskyy described as “strong” security guarantees for Ukraine.
These would obligate Ukraine’s partners to respond in the event of renewed Russian aggression, mirroring the collective defense principle enshrined in NATO’s Article 5.
He said a separate, binding document with the United States would spell out the conditions and mechanisms for these guarantees and would be signed alongside the main peace agreement.
According to Zelenskyy, U.S. officials view these commitments as an unprecedented step toward Ukraine, believing they constitute robust security assurances.
The draft also addresses military and political issues, including maintaining Ukraine’s armed forces at a peacetime strength of 800,000 troops—a point of contention, as Russia has demanded limits on Ukraine’s military. Additionally, the proposal sets a target date for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
Economic provisions include accelerating a free-trade agreement between Ukraine and the United States, with Washington seeking a similar arrangement with Russia. Kyiv is also pushing for temporary privileged access to European markets and a sweeping global development package aimed at rebuilding Ukraine’s economy. Central to this effort would be a development fund designed to attract international investment into key Ukrainian industries.
The plan outlines an ambitious reconstruction goal of raising up to $800 billion through a combination of equity investments, grants, loans, and private-sector funding. It also calls for Ukraine to hold national elections after the agreement is signed.
Zelenskyy’s presidential term was set to expire in May 2024, but elections were postponed due to the ongoing war—a move that was legal under Ukrainian law but has been criticized by Russian President Vladimir Putin and, at times, by Trump.
Finally, Ukraine is demanding the immediate release of all prisoners taken since 2014, including civilian detainees, political prisoners, and children forcibly transferred to Russia.
The conflict began that year with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of fighting between Ukrainian forces and Moscow-backed separatists in the Donbas—a war that Kyiv now hopes, through painful compromise and firm guarantees, can finally be brought to an end.
Source Breitbrat
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