KYIV: Ukraine has presented the US with a revised 20-point framework to end its war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, adding that the issue of ceding territory remains a major sticking point in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Zelensky said the US is offering as a compromise to create a “free economic zone” in the Ukraine-controlled parts of the eastern Donbas which Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede.
“They see it as Ukrainian troops withdrawing from the Donetsk region, and the compromise is supposedly that Russian troops will not enter this part of Donetsk region. They do not know who will govern this territory,” he said, adding that Russia is referring to it as a “demilitarised zone”.
However, Zelensky said there was still no common understanding on the land issue and that Ukrainians should vote on any territorial concessions in a referendum. Kyiv, in the latest round of frantic shuttle diplomacy, is seeking to balance out a 28-point US-backed plan whose original version was seen as too favourable to Moscow.
Zelensky added that Russia’s withdrawal from slivers of land in the northeastern Kharkiv and Sumy regions, as well as the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, was part of the discussion. The contact lines in the partially occupied southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson would be frozen where they are, he added.
The US also offered potential joint governance of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest such facility in Europe and currently occupied by Russia, which wants to keep the station under its own control.
Ukraine is under mounting US pressure to quickly secure a deal with Russia, which has stepped up advances on the frontline in recent months and renewed massive attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Zelensky, following reports that President Donald Trump had set a Christmas deadline for Ukraine to accept the peace proposal, said Washington had not given Kyiv a strict timeline. “I think they really wanted, or perhaps still want, to have a complete understanding of where we stand with this agreement by Christmas,” he said.
Apart from a 20-point framework, the general peace plan will include separate documents on security guarantees, to prevent Russia from attacking again, and on rebuilding Ukraine’s war-hit cities.
Ukraine, which says it has been let down by previous security assurances from allies, insists that guarantees are ratified in parliament. Zelensky said on Thursday he had an “in-depth” discussion on the matter with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Kyiv also wants to maintain a strong army after fighting ends, and Zelensky said the latest draft proposal puts it at 800,000 - higher than in an initial framework, according to reports.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is “extremely frustrated” with both Kyiv and Moscow, his spokeswoman said on Thursday, as negotiations on ending Russia´s nearly four-year war against its neighbor have faltered.
“The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war,” Karoline Leavitt told reporters. She added: “He doesn´t want any more talk. He wants action. He wants this war to come to an end.”
