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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in comments released Wednesday that Ukraine is ready to withdraw “overwhelming forces” from parts of the Donbass region, over which it still controls, if Russia withdraws as part of a peace deal.
Zelensky outlined details of possible demilitarized or free economic zones in comments last week in Florida on a draft of a 20-point peace plan developed with the US.
He stressed that any troop withdrawal would require direct negotiations with US President Donald Trump, and that any final agreement would be put to a nationwide referendum in Ukraine.
“I explained (to the American side): If you want a referendum – and they, by the way, do – then the entire document needs to be put to the referendum, not just some individual free economic zones,” Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian president said he is now waiting for Moscow’s response to the proposal. There is a deep difference of opinion between the two sides regarding the provisions for ending the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference on Friday that Moscow wants its most radical demands to form the basis for any peace talks with Ukraine, adding that he expects his forces to continue advancing on the battlefield nearly four years after the invasion.
Zelensky confirmed earlier this month that discussions were underway on a possible demilitarized zone in eastern Ukraine, but he also said it was “not a condition” that Ukraine would accept.
Zelensky said the plan calls for Ukraine to hold elections “as soon as possible” if the agreement is signed. Moscow has repeatedly called Zelensky an illegitimate leader and called for his removal.
The 20-point draft plan was developed by Ukraine and the US in response to an earlier 28-point plan, which had provided significant concessions to Russia and caused deep concern among officials in Europe and Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly indicated that it would not accept amendments to that plan.
In the current version of the document, Zelenskyy said, Ukraine would receive security guarantees “mirroring” NATO’s Article 5 mutual protection for any member under attack.
It will also join the EU at an unspecified date and receive funding for reconstruction and a free trade agreement with the US.
The draft also includes the creation of a working group to discuss “redeployment of forces” as well as the creation of “possible future exclusive economic zones,” he said.
Zelensky stressed that both sides would have to withdraw military forces in any demilitarized zone.
“The areas from which our troops have withdrawn will be under our administration and police because it is a free economic zone, and for example, there should be someone responsible for law and order,” he said.
He acknowledged that the free economic zone format was intended to be a compromise between Moscow’s demand that Kiev hand over the entire Donbass region and Ukraine’s refusal to give up the region.
US negotiators are looking for “a demilitarized zone or a free economic zone, which means a format that can satisfy both sides,” Zelensky said.
Another point of contention is the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is currently in Russian-controlled territory.
Zelensky rejected the idea that the plant would be jointly operated by the US, Ukraine and Russia, as outlined in a 20-point plan. He said Ukraine has suggested a “compromise” in which it would be operated by a company jointly owned by Ukraine and the US without Russian involvement – a proposal likely to be a non-starter for Moscow.
He also called for the town of Enrhoder, built by the Soviet Union for nuclear power plant workers and their families, to be made a demilitarized, “free economic zone”.
The Kremlin said Putin’s special envoy for economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, had briefed the Russian president after meeting with US negotiators in Miami last weekend to discuss Trump’s plan.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia “will continue contacts through existing channels in the immediate future”, according to state newswire RIA Novosti.
Additional reporting by Max Seddon
