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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky positively assessed his conversation with American envoys on how to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Zelensky said Thursday’s call with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, which lasted nearly an hour, gave rise to “new ideas in terms of formats, meetings and … timing on how to move closer to real peace.”
He spoke one day after giving details of updated 20-point peace plan agreed by U.S. and Ukrainian envoys to Florida.
Zelensky said he asked Witkoff and Kushner to convey Christmas greetings to US President Donald Trump “and the entire Trump family.”
The Kremlin said it was analyzing proposals reported from the United States by a Russian envoy.
Trump and his envoys have held talks with Ukraine and Russia with the aim of reaching an agreement ending the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
There appears to have been some progress in recent days, with Ukraine’s president praising the “good ideas” put forward by Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Kushner.
Zelensky said it had been an “active day” for his country’s diplomacy, as he outlined details with US envoys.
He acknowledged that there was still “work to do on sensitive issues” but added that “with the American team, we understand how to put this all together.”
Zelensky added that Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, the country’s top security official, “will continue discussions with the American team.”
The 20-point peace plan agreed to by the United States and Ukraine is seen as an update to the initial draft prepared by Witkoff several weeks ago.
This project was widely seen as heavily biased towards Russia’s maximalist demands before the invasion, which kyiv and its Europeans believed meant Ukraine’s de facto capitulation.
Describing the updated proposal on Wednesday, Zelensky said it offered Russia the potential withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the east and the creation of a demilitarized zone in their place.
He added that the plan now included security guarantees from the United States, NATO and Europeans for a coordinated military response if Russia invaded Ukraine again.
On the key issue of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk industrial region, Zelensky said a “free economic zone” was a potential option. Any area from which Ukrainian troops withdraw will have to be monitored by Ukraine, he stressed.
Moscow currently controls around 75% of the Donetsk region and around 99% of the neighboring Luhansk region. They are collectively known as Donbass.
Zelensky has come under heavy pressure from Trump to cede all of Donbass to Russia during ongoing Washington-led peace negotiations.
The Ukrainian leader has so far rejected any territorial concessions and instead demanded ironclad security guarantees for Ukraine in any potential settlement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly warned that Ukrainian troops must leave Donbass, otherwise Russia will seize it.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was studying proposals reported from the United States by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
“We are examining these elements and, depending on the decisions taken by the head of state, we will continue our communication with the Americans,” he declared.
While diplomatic efforts to end the conflict advance, fighting continues on the ground.
The Ukrainian military announced Thursday that it had struck one of Russia’s main oil refineries in the southern Rostov region with cruise missiles.
The Novoshakhtinsk refinery, near the Ukrainian border, is essential for supplying fuel to Russian military operations in occupied eastern Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had taken control of the Svyato-Pokrovské settlement in the Donetsk region.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the besieged eastern city of Siversk.
The capture of the city brings Russia closer to the last cities of the “fortress belt” of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk still in Ukrainian hands in the Donetsk region.
