Europe and Ukraine are preparing a 12-point peace plan to end the war. What Putin asked for and what Zelenskiy will receive

European countries are working with Kiev on a 12-point proposal to end Russia's war along the current battle lines, a plan that rejects Russian President Vladimir Putin's renewed demands to the US that Ukraine cede territory in exchange for a peace deal, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.

A peace committee chaired by US President Donald Trump would oversee the implementation of the proposed plan, according to people familiar with the matter.

Once Russia follows Ukraine's lead and agrees to a truce, and both sides commit to halting the territorial advance, the proposals call for the return to Ukraine of all deported children and prisoner exchanges.

According to the plan, Ukraine will receive security guarantees, funds to repair war damage and a fast-track accession to the European Union.

Sanctions against Russia would be gradually lifted, although about $300 billion of the central bank's frozen reserves would be returned only after Moscow agreed to contribute to Ukraine's post-war reconstruction. The restrictions would be reinstated if Russia attacked its neighbor again.

The same plan calls for Moscow and Kiev to begin negotiations on the governance of the occupied territories, although neither Europe nor Ukraine will legally recognize any occupied territory as Russian, the sources cited by Bloomberg said.

Russia has so far rejected calls to end the fighting along existing lines, despite the massive loss of life in the war now in its fourth year.

Details of the plan are being finalized and could be subject to change, the sources warned, asking not to be identified because they provided details from these private discussions. Any proposal would also need Washington's approval, and European officials could visit the US this week, the sources said.

Trump: “Let them stop where they are”

The proposal echoes Trump's calls last week for an immediate freeze on the conflict along current lines before peace talks begin.

Following a phone call with Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the US president said Russia and Ukraine should “stop where they are”.

“Enough blood has been spilled and property lines have been defined by war and courage,” he said in a post on the Truth Social social network.

He reiterated his position in a series of comments to reporters aboard the presidential plane Air Force One, saying both sides should “immediately stop on the front lines, go home, stop killing people and end the conflict,” adding that Moscow and Kiev could discuss the territories later.

Trump also announced that he has agreed to meet with Putin in Budapest in the coming weeks. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, but the two sides failed to agree on a meeting to prepare for the summit.

The Kremlin on Tuesday tried to temper expectations of a quick meeting between Putin and Trump.

“The work ahead of us will be difficult,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “Neither President Trump nor President Putin has given a precise timetable. Preparations, serious preparations are needed,” Peskov added.

European leaders said in a joint statement on Tuesday that they “strongly support” an immediate end to Russia's war in Ukraine, in line with existing positions, to allow peace talks to begin.

Ukraine's allies in the so-called “Coalition of the Volunteers” (or “Coalition of the Will”) will meet on Friday. Thursday's summit of European Union leaders in Brussels will discuss additional sanctions against the Kremlin, as well as financial aid to Ukraine using frozen assets of the Russian central bank.

Although Zelenskiy criticized Budapest as a venue for the talks because of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's pro-Russian stance so far, the Ukrainian president said he would attend the Budapest summit if invited.

“We have come close to a possible end to the war, I can tell you that for sure,” Zelensky told reporters in Kiev after his visit to the US last week. “This does not mean that it will definitely end, but President Trump has achieved a lot in the Middle East and, taking advantage of this wave, he wants to end Russia's war against Ukraine,” the Ukrainian leader added.

Trump did not mention Ukraine's requests for stronger air defenses, energy support or long-range strike capabilities after his meeting with Zelenskiy on Friday.

Putin asked to receive the entire Donbas

During the talks, Trump urged Zelenskiy to quickly agree to a deal and emphasized Russia's strengths, according to sources in Washington. U.S. officials present suggested the possibility of Ukraine making territorial concessions to allow for a deal, the sources added.

The Ukrainian president said in a statement released over the weekend that the war should be frozen along the current battle lines before the two sides can enter into peace talks.

“If we want to stop this war and go to peace talks urgently and in a diplomatic way, we have to stay where we are, not give anything more to Putin,” he said in an interview on NBC's “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday.

Ukraine's allies saw no sign that Putin would budge from his maximalist demands, a senior European official said. The only change Europeans see is in Trump, who allies believed had concluded it was necessary to step up pressure on Russia, but who appears to have backed off again after the latest talks with Putin and Zelenskiy.

The Russian president reiterated his demand that Ukraine cede all of eastern Donbas during a phone call with Trump on Thursday, according to the sources. Russian troops have not been able to fully capture the area, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in more than 11 years of fighting, and would likely need years to do so if possible.

It is not clear whether, in return, Moscow is willing to accept territorial concessions in other Ukrainian regions, the sources said. In addition to the Crimean peninsula, which it illegally annexed back in 2014, and parts of the Donbas, Russia partially occupies and claims Ukraine's Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.