The Guardian - Mon 24 Nov 2025 17.32 CET - Ukraine makes significant changes to US ‘peace plan’, sources say - Some of Russia’s maximalist demands have been removed from original 28-point proposal, it is understood

 The Guardian 

Ukraine makes significant changes to US ‘peace plan’, sources say

Some of Russia’s maximalist demands have been removed from original 28-point proposal, it is understood

Analysis: Disarray over leaked US-Russia peace plan is ideal scenario for Putin

Luke Harding in Kyiv, Jon Henley and Pjotr Sauer

Mon 24 Nov 2025 17.32 CET

Ukraine has significantly amended the US “peace plan” to end the conflict, removing some of Russia’s maximalist demands, people familiar with the negotiations said, as European leaders warned on Monday that no deal could be reached quickly.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy may meet Donald Trump in the White House later this week, sources indicated, amid a flurry of calls between Kyiv and Washington. Ukraine is pressing for Europe to be involved in the talks.

The original 28-point US-Russian plan was drawn up last month by Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, and Trump’s representative Steve Witkoff. It calls on Ukraine to withdraw from cities it controls in the eastern Donbas region, limit the size of its army, and not join Nato.

During negotiations on Sunday in Switzerland – led by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak – the plan was substantially revised. It now includes only 19 points. Kyiv and its European partners say the existing frontline has to be the starting point for territorial discussions.

They say there can be no recognition of land seized by Russia militarily, and that Kyiv should make its own decisions on whether to join the EU and Nato – something the Kremlin wants to veto or impose conditions on. Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister, Sergiy Kyslytsya, told the Financial Times such issues had been “placed in brackets” for Trump and Zelenskyy to decide upon later.

Rubio hailed Sunday’s talks as “very very positive”. Writing on Truth Social on Monday, Trump, who days earlier had accused Ukraine’s leadership of having “zero gratitude”, also struck a positive tone.

“Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” he wrote.

Ukraine’s delegation briefed Zelenskyy about the talks on Monday after returning to Kyiv from Geneva . They described the latest version of the plan as more realistic. Separately, Zelenskyy spoke to the US vice-president, JD Vance, and urged him to involve European countries in the process. Vance reportedly agreed.

But in the clearest sign yet the original 28-point plan – widely seen as favourable to Moscow – still falls short of several key Kremlin demands, Putin’s top foreign policy aide on Monday said Moscow would seek to “rework” parts of it.

“We were given some sort of draft … which will require further reworking,” said Yuri Ushakov , adding that “many provisions” of the plan appeared acceptable to Russia, but others would “require the most detailed discussions and review between the parties”.

Underscoring the Kremlin’s hardline stance, Ushakov said Moscow would reject a European counter-proposal from the weekend, which, according to a copy seen by Reuters, changes the meaning and significance of key points concerning Nato membership and territory.

“The European plan, at first glance … is completely unconstructive and does not work for us,” he said.

The UK and EU were blindsided last week when the original plan was leaked to US media. The army secretary, Dan Driscoll – Vance’s friend and university classmate – was sent to Kyiv with a military delegation to brief Zelenskyy on its contents.

Since then, European governments have sought to revise the document, which appears to have originally been written in Russian. EU leaders attending an EU-Africa summit in Angola welcomed a degree of progress, but said far more work remained to be done and insisted Europe must be fully involved and Russia must be present if talks were to advance substantively.

The European Council president, António Costa, praised “a new momentum”, saying after talks on the sidelines of the summit that while issues remained, “the direction is positive”.

The European Council president, António Costa, praised “a new momentum”, saying after talks on the sidelines of the summit that while issues remained, “the direction is positive”.

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, also called the “refined peace framework” agreed in Switzerland “a solid basis for moving forward”, but added: “Work remains to be done.”