Zelensky moves towards demilitarized zones in latest peace plan for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has provided details of an updated peace plan offering Russia the possible withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the east, which Moscow has requested.

Zelensky gave details of the 20-point plan agreed by US and Ukrainian negotiators in Florida this weekend and said the Russians would respond on Wednesday once the Americans had spoken to them.

Zelensky described the plan as “the main framework for ending the war” and said it proposed security guarantees from the US, NATO and Europeans for a coordinated military response if Russia invaded Ukraine again.

On the crucial issue of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas, Zelensky said a “free economic zone” is a possible option.

He told journalists that because Ukraine opposed withdrawal, US negotiators were looking to establish a demilitarized zone or a free economic zone. Any area from which Ukrainian troops withdrew should be controlled by Ukraine, he stressed.

“There are two options,” Zelensky said, “either the war continues or something has to be decided about all potential economic zones.”

The 20-point plan is seen as an update of an original 28-point document agreed with the Russians by US envoy Steve Witkoff several weeks ago and which was widely seen as heavily focused on the Kremlin’s demands.

The Russians have insisted that Ukraine withdraw from almost a quarter of its own territory in the eastern Donetsk region in exchange for a peace deal. The rest is already under Russian occupation.

Sensitive issues, including questions about territory, would have to be resolved “at the leadership level,” but the new draft would provide Ukraine with strong security guarantees and a military strength of 800,000 troops, Zelensky explained.

Much of the updated plan resembles what emerged from recent talks in Berlin involving U.S. negotiators Witkoff and Jared Kushner with Ukrainian and European leaders. The setting then shifted to Miami last weekend, where US President Donald Trump’s team spoke separately with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev and then with Ukrainian and European officials.

There now appear to be many more details on the territorial issue, although it is clear that the Ukrainian side failed to reach a consensus with the Americans.

Zelensky explained that if Ukraine were willing to withdraw its heavy forces by five, ten or forty kilometers into the 25% of Donetsk it still held to create an economic zone, virtually demilitarizing it, Russia would have to do the same “accordingly by five, ten or forty kilometers.”

Russian troops are currently about 40 kilometers east of the Ukrainian ‘fortress belt’ cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. after conquering the city of Siversk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to be impressed by the kind of compromise proposed for Donetsk. He said this month that Russia would take control of all of eastern Ukraine by force if Ukrainian forces did not withdraw.

However, Trump is pushing for a deal that will end nearly four years of full-scale war, and the Ukrainian president believes Russia cannot afford to reject the US plan.

“They cannot say to President Trump, ‘look, we are against a peaceful settlement,’” Zelensky told reporters. “If they are trying to hinder everything, then President Trump should heavily arm us while imposing all possible sanctions against them.”

Zelensky made it clear that if a free economic zone were to be established in Donetsk, it would have to be under Ukrainian administration and police – “certainly not the so-called Russian police”. The current front line would then become the border of the economic zone, with international forces on the ground along the line of contact to prevent Russian infiltration.

Russia has so far rejected a European proposal to oversee a peace deal through a Coalition of the Willing as a “brazen threat.”

A referendum should be held on the entire peace plan, Zelensky said, and only a referendum could decide on the idea of ​​a potential free economic zone in the Donbas.

He stressed that an economic zone should also be set up around the Zaporizhiav nuclear power plant, currently occupied by Russia, and that Russian troops should withdraw from four other Ukrainian regions: Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Kharkiv.

The current US proposal for the nuclear plant would be for Ukraine, the US and Russia to jointly operate the nuclear plant, but Kiev did not agree, Zelensky said.

The main points of the plan affirm Ukraine’s sovereignty and propose a non-aggression pact between Russia and its neighbor with a monitoring mechanism.

In addition to strong security guarantees that reflect NATO’s Article Five, which requires members to assist an ally under attack, Ukraine will have a maximum peacetime military strength of 800,000 troops.

Discussions are still ongoing about a US plan to receive compensation in exchange for security guarantees, so Zelensky says this is not part of the document at the moment.

There is no reference whatsoever preventing Ukraine from joining NATO, which was in the original 28-point plan and something Russia has consistently demanded.

And the latest framework proposes that Ukraine will become a member of the European Union with a certain date of accession. It is currently a candidate country, but a number of other candidate countries are seen first in line, such as Albania.

There are plans for a Ukrainian investment fund of around $200 billion, involving both the US and Europe.

One of the other points is the demand that Ukraine hold elections as soon as possible after signing the agreement. Russia and the US have both pushed for a vote even though Ukraine is under martial law over the large-scale invasion.