Peace plan: Ukraine will permanently relinquish its territories

The US is pressuring Ukraine to conclude an agreement within an “aggressive timeframe,” Axios reports.

The plan was developed by Trump's special envoy Steve Whitcoff with the participation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. During the preparation process, Whitcoff consulted with Russian representative Kirill Dmitriev.

Dmitriev said he was optimistic about it because, unlike past attempts, “we feel that the Russian position is really being listened to.”

This was followed by discussions with Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov.

U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll presented the plan in writing to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky described the document as a U.S. vision, not a final agreement, noting “red lines.”

The document provides for significant changes in Ukraine's geopolitical status and territorial integrity. Crimea, as well as the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, are de facto recognized as Russian, in particular by the United States.

The situation in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is frozen along the line of contact. The Armed Forces of Ukraine will have to leave the parts of the Donetsk region they control, where a neutral demilitarized buffer zone will be created.

Photo: Asia Times.