Ukrainian peace plan hints to privileges, but the main obstacles remain

In response to a proposal in the White House to end the war in Ukraine, which critics say will give the Kremlin a lot, the leadership or repeat of the control – one contradicts in some respects what President Trump demanded, but it leaves room for possible consensus on issues that have appeared long ago.

According to the plan, obtained by the New York Times, there will be no restrictions on the size of the Ukrainian army, and the US -backed “European security squad” will be deployed in Ukrainian territory to ensure security, and frozen Russian assets will be used to repair the damage caused by the war -caused Ukraine.

These three unstable provisions can be for the Kremlin, but parts of the Ukrainian plan indicate the search for a compromise. There is no mention, for example, about Ukraine, to restore all the lands that Russia seized or insist on Ukraine’s accession to NATO, two issues that President Voludmir Zelinski said long ago for negotiations.

Mr. Trump flew to Rome on Friday to attend the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday; Mr. Zelinski also intended this, but his spokesperson said on Friday that this depended on the situation in Ukraine, where Russian attacks this week left the capital, Kiev and other places dead and wounded.

In a post on social media after falling in Rome, Mr. Trump said that Russia and Ukraine were “very close to the deal” and urged the two sides to meet directly “by ending it.” Earlier in the day, he said that he and Mr. Zellinski could meet on the margins of the funeral. A senior Ukrainian official, who speaks on the condition that his identity is not disclosed, said that if Mr. Zellinski goes to Rome, he may try to present Mr. Trump with a personality parallel to Ukraine personally.

“In the coming days, very important meetings may take place – meetings that must bring us closer to Silence for Ukraine,” Mr. Zelinski said on Friday in statements that were not unusual optimistic compared to the previous data tone this week.

It will be a meeting between the first two leaders since the disastrous visit to Mr. Zellinski to the White House in February, Matthew Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance died In a televised confrontation in the Oval Office.

This will also be followed by days of intensity between the White House and Ukraine’s leadership on the features of a possible peace deal with Russia.

Mr. Zelinski rejected a proposal in the White House that was announced this week that would make the United States recognize Russia’s control of the Crimea, which was included in the Kremlin illegally in 2014. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Zelinski of “inflammation” and said that his refusal to recognize the requirements of the White House “will take over the” match. “

Although Rancor, there still seems room for concessions between Washington and Kiev, although their locations are barely placed in the stone.

What Moscow accepts is still unclear.

For example, the suggestion of Ukraine does not request any request, for example, that Ukraine’s membership in NATO – which Moscow is strongly opposed – although this has long been a position occupied by Mr. Zellinski. Instead, she says: “Ukraine’s accession to NATO depends on the consensus among the coalition members.”

In talks in London and Paris, US officials reiterated the intention of Mr. Trump to oppose NATO membership in Ukraine, but they told their Ukrainian counterparts that this position would not link American presidents in the future if there is a different position.

“The following American administration can decide to allow Ukraine to enter NATO,” the Americans told the Ukrainians, according to a person at the meeting in Paris last week. American officials said they understood that Ukraine would not accept any restrictions on joining NATO.

The White House took the Ukraine team, not Russia, when it comes to the future form of the Ukraine Army. The Kremlin demanded that the Ukraine army, which is now the largest and largest battle in Europe alongside Russia, would be subject to strict restrictions on its size and capabilities. Trump administration officials have told the Ukrainian that they would not support such restrictions.

While Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance expressed their willingness this week Learn about Russian sovereignty on the Crimea PeninsulaAnd the Americans have repeatedly explained to the Ukrainians that they will not ask Kiev to do so, and they do not expect the Europeans to follow the American.

However, although Mr. Trump asserts that “we are very close” to the deal, it seems to be a long way. While all parties agree that before any serious peace negotiations can start the Russians and the Ukrainians must stop shooting each other, the ceasefire appears to be as long as it was always.

Hours after Mr. Trump’s criticism of Mr. Zellinski for his failure to support the White House peace proposal this week, Russia launched an attack on Kiev killing at least 12 people and wounding 90 others. This attack prompted a rare reprimand by Mr. Putin from Mr. Trump, although similar attacks, including the attacks that struck the eastern city of Sumi in Palm Sunday, which killed 34, resulted in a few American response.

Russia has refused to adhere to the 30 -day shooting ceasefire, which the Trump administration demanded and Ukraine agreed to this. Even a day truce suggested it Mr. Putin for Easter Mark Easter It did not stand up, with both other sides accusing him of continuing the fighting.

Then there is the issue of the region.

Since the invasion of Mr. Putin in February 2022, Russian forces have occupied a large percentage of Ukraine, mostly in the eastern Donbas region in the country, but also a tape of land in the south that connects Russian territory to the crime. The Kremlin ruled out abandoning any of these lands, which include large parts of four Ukrainian provinces Mr. Putin decided It is now part of Russia.

In their proposal, the Ukrainians say that their country should be “completely restored”, without specifying what this means. Although Mr. Zellinski has long said that his final management goal is to return all regions that formed Ukraine when it declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, including Crimea, it seems that the last Kiev proposal intentionally on this point.

“Regional issues can be discussed after a full and unconditional ceasefire,” says all the Ukrainian proposal.

Trump administration officials have described the unrealistic goal of Mr. Zellinski represented in pushing the Russian forces from all these occupied lands; The American proposal will accept realistic Russian control over these occupied areas. Ukraine and its European partners say this will be an equivalent Russian aggression.

While this will be a painful concession for the Ukrainians, the Trump administration has so far refused to get rid of all regional demands of Russia. For example, the White House refused to confront the Russian demand, provided that Ukraine retracts all the four Ukrainian provinces in which Mr. Putin declared part of Russia.

One of the participants in the talks said that the position of the White House was that this was “an unreasonable and unreasonable request that the United States will not support.”

This week, Mr. Vance said that the United States will calm the talks if the two sides do not agree to “freeze” regional lines as they are now.

US officials later explained that although the total total amount of Russia -controlled lands was unlikely to change in any future negotiations, Ukrainian officials have made it clear that they intend to propose regional bodies to improve the country’s defense positions. Trump administration officials from the Ukrainian sector have reassured that they will fight for the bares, but they said they could not guarantee that Russia will agree with them.