KYIV — Ukraine and its European partners will soon present the United States with “refined documents” for a potential peace plan to end Russia’s war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as diplomatic pressure builds for a deal and leaders claim the talks are inching closer to a breakthrough.
Zelensky said new components of a proposal hammered out with British, French and German leaders in London are ready for U.S. review. Kyiv is also seeking robust, long-term security guarantees to deter any future Russian attack as part of any settlement. “Together with the American side, we expect to swiftly make the potential steps as doable as possible,” he said.
- Advertisement -
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said allies have been working on three texts: a 20-point framework, a set of security guarantees and a reconstruction plan. “I think we are closer to a peace agreement than we have been at any time since the war began,” Stubb said at an event in Helsinki, signaling growing confidence among European capitals that a structured path to talks is coalescing.
The emerging push comes as Washington steps up pressure on Kyiv to consider a swift end to the fighting. U.S. President Donald Trump, citing Russia’s battlefield momentum, urged Zelensky to accept difficult compromises. “They’re much bigger. They’re much stronger in that sense,” Trump said in an interview with Politico, adding that the Ukrainian leader would “have to get on the ball and start … accepting things.”
Russia has demanded that Ukraine surrender the entire eastern Donbas region as a precondition for halting combat — a red line Zelensky has consistently rejected. Moscow’s public terms underscore the gulf that negotiators must bridge, even as Western allies test whether a structured package of security guarantees and reconstruction support could unlock a durable ceasefire.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine, Deputy U.S. Ambassador Jennifer Locetta said Washington is seeking to “bridge the divide” between Kyiv and Moscow. The goal, she said, is a permanent ceasefire and “a mutually agreed peace deal that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity for real prosperity.”
Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told the council that “fairly realistic proposals” are on the table for a long-term settlement and suggested the United States is “diligently working on” them. “History relentlessly demonstrates that every new proposal being put before Ukraine is less favourable to it than the last,” Nebenzia said. “Russia will achieve the objectives of its special military operation in any event. The only question is will we do this militarily or diplomatically? We reiterate that we prefer the latter course.”
For Kyiv, any plan sent to Washington will be measured against two imperatives: preserving Ukraine’s sovereignty and securing enforceable protections against renewed aggression. While allies emphasize momentum and “refined” texts, neither side has disclosed a timetable for next steps, and the core dispute over territory remains unresolved.
The coming U.S. review will test whether the European-drafted framework — blending ceasefire mechanics, security guarantees and postwar reconstruction — can be molded into a proposal acceptable to Kyiv, Washington and, ultimately, Moscow. Until then, the contours of peace are taking shape on paper even as the fighting continues.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
