Kyiv still believes that some aspects of the current US plan are beneficial to Moscow, and that Washington is putting much more pressure on Zelensky than on the illegitimate president of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. But the US is also putting pressure on Putin to soften his demands, the unnamed US official denied.
According to Axios, negotiations on the “peace plan” have focused on two issues – Russia's demand that Ukraine cede all of Donbass (including parts not controlled by the occupiers), and Ukraine's request for strong security guarantees from the United States to prevent future Russian aggression.
According to the Ukrainian official, the US offer worsened for Kyiv after US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the White House head's son-in-law Jared Kushner held a five-hour meeting with Putin in the Kremlin on December 2.
On December 6, after three days of negotiations between the US and Ukrainian delegations, Zelensky held a two-hour conversation with Witkoff and Kushner. During the conversation, “there was a feeling” that the United States was “trying in different ways to convince” the Ukrainian side of “Russia’s desire to capture the entire Donbass,” and that “the Americans wanted Zelensky to accept all this in a telephone conversation,” the Ukrainian official added.
Zelensky, in turn, told American negotiators that he had received the US proposal only an hour ago and had not yet read it (hence Trump’s negative reaction that the Ukrainian president had not read the plan).
As a Ukrainian official said, the US proposal included more stringent conditions than previous versions of the “peace plan”. Including on such issues as territories and control over Zaporizhia NPP. Moreover, the US proposal left key questions about security guarantees unanswered.
Kiev noted that “there are important issues related to the territory that need to be discussed in more detail,” in particular, “who controls what, who stays where, who is withdrawing troops.” If Ukraine withdraws troops from the contact line, how to make sure that Russia does the same and does not continue hostilities, the Ukrainian source added to Axios.
At the same time, the American media interlocutor insists that Ukraine had a significant influence on the current project, and that Kushner and Vitkoff put pressure on Putin to agree to some Ukrainian demands.
The entire episode reflects the simmering mistrust between the Zelensky and Trump administrations, despite the many hours their teams spent negotiating, Axios writes.
On December 8, Zelensky met in London with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. After it, Zelensky said that the national security advisers of Ukraine and its allies will work on the latest version of the “peace plan” and will send the document to Washington on the evening of December 9.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials told Axios that the Trump administration viewed Zelensky's meeting in London as a futile attempt to buy time in negotiations on a “peace plan.”
According to Ukrainian officials, the United States is trying to “distance” Zelensky from European leaders in order to put more effective pressure on him.
Kyiv explained that Zelensky “cannot make such radical decisions without consulting his key allies in Europe.”
The Ukrainian official added that while the Trump administration puts pressure on Zelensky, demanding quick action from him, Europeans advise caution and patience. This “irks some people in the White House” who see the Europeans as “the main obstacle to a deal,” Axios noted.
According to the European official, it is currently unclear what role the United States is willing to play in providing security guarantees for Ukraine, and what Washington expects from European allies.
Two Ukrainian officials said the latest US proposal for security guarantees is based on a “broader framework” than the original, but the document still does not include a Senate-ratified treaty.
Context
On December 8, Zelensky, Starmer, Macron and Merz discussed in London the progress of negotiations on a “peace plan” for resolving the Russian-Ukrainian war. “We have a lot of cards in our hands,” Macron noted. Merz said that “the fate of Ukraine is the fate of Europe.”
The Elysee Palace said that meeting in London “allowed us to continue working together” on the US “peace plan” and on what Europe can offer. Much remains to be done on reliable security guarantees and proposals for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, a representative of the French President's office added.
After the meeting in London, Zelensky flew to Brussels.
The delegations of Ukraine and the USA have already held seven rounds of negotiations about the “peace plan” for resolving the Russian-Ukrainian war. In parallel, the American side is holding discussions on the same issue with the aggressor country of the Russian Federation.
Zelensky, in an interview published on December 8, said that elements of the US plan require further discussion of a number of “sensitive issues,” in particular regarding territorial issues and security guarantees for Ukraine.
