The US has suggested creating a “free economic zone” in parts of the eastern Donbas region from which Ukraine would withdraw under a deal with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.
Zelensky said Kyiv has presented the US with an updated version of a peace plan — “not a single document, but a set of documents,” many of which need to be finalized. He said the Trump administration wants a “full understanding” of the plan’s status by Christmas.
Questions of territory remain unresolved, the Ukrainian leader said. “The Russians want the whole of the Donbas — but we, of course, do not accept this,” he explained.
Some background: Russia has been fighting in the Donbas region, which spans the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, since 2014. Moscow is now trying to secure through US-mediated peace negotiations what it has been unable to win through force of arms.
“Our position is that it is fair to stand where we stand — that is, on the contact line,” Zelensky said.
As a compromise, Zelensky said the US has discussed creating a “free economic zone” in the parts of the Donbas from which Ukrainian troops would withdraw. The Russians refer to the territory under discussion as a “demilitarized” zone, he added.
Zelensky said questions remain about who would manage the territory, and how to ensure that troop withdrawals were fair. He also questioned who would police the “free economic zone.”
What’s next? US, European and Ukrainian officials will convene this weekend in Paris for further talks on the peace plan. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it is “up in the air” whether the Trump administration will send a representative. She said President Donald Trump is “sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting.”
Yesterday, Trump said the US would help with security efforts, should a deal be reached, which “I think, a necessary factor in getting it done.”