The original draft, presented to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv last week, made concessions to Moscow that crossed major red lines for Ukraine. Photo / Getty Images
The United States and Ukraine significantly changed a controversial 28-point plan to end Russia’s war following frenzied meetings in Geneva that brought the two sides closer to an agreement after the White House pushed Kyiv to sign off on the plan by the weekend.
The changes, which two Ukrainian officials said were much more palatable to their country, could very well be less acceptable to Russia – the paradox that has long resulted in an impasse over ending the war.
The original draft, presented to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv last week, made concessions to Moscow that crossed major red lines for Ukraine, spurring outrage from Kyiv and its allies, including Republicans in Congress.
Zelenskyy and top officials have spent the past days in a diplomatic flurry to garner support for a better deal.
A US delegation, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and a Ukrainian team, led by the head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, held talks in Geneva over the weekend to hammer through changes to the proposal.
The meetings were “tense and tough” but productive, said Oleksandr Bevz, an adviser to Yermak who participated in the Geneva talks. He said the Friday deadline now appears more flexible than it had before. “It’s not a code red. It’s more important to finalise the text.”
“Many of the controversial provisions were either softened or at least reshaped” to get closer to a Ukrainian position or reduce demands on Ukraine, he said.
While not all the language in the draft was considered entirely “acceptable” to Kyiv, Bevz said, the text was revised to a point that it could at least “be considered, whereas before, it was an ultimatum”.
The US had threatened to cut all support if the deal wasn’t accepted, according to previous Washington Post reporting.
Both sides agreed to remove points regarding US-Russian engagement that did not involve Ukraine, to protect Zelenskyy from signing a document with provisions unrelated to his country, Bevz said.
Kyiv also argued for issues involving Europe to be resolved separately and for Ukraine’s Nato aspirations to be decided based on Nato’s rules, which require consensus, essentially nixing the outright veto on membership from the earlier draft.
Other issues were harder to resolve.
Zelenskyy has not authorised anyone except himself to discuss territorial issues, meaning little progress was made on the initial proposal that included recognition of Russian control of parts of Ukraine and a retreat of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian side made it clear to US officials that they are willing to start discussions from their current military position and do not want to engage with Russian offers to swap territory.
The Americans expressed understanding that territorial questions could stir social unrest or military protests in Ukraine, Bevz said.
Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump are expected to further resolve some of these issues in a meeting or phone call, which has not yet been scheduled. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said there had been signals from the US to set up an official meeting to discuss the proposals.
The document had been reduced from 28 points to 19 by today, said an official briefed on the discussions, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
The final number had not yet been agreed upon, the official said, but the foundation continued to be based on the original American proposal – not a separate European draft of the US document that also circulated over the weekend.
European suggestions were “helpful”, the official said, but the Americans remained focused on their initial document.
A European official briefed on the talks said it seemed that provisions on European security were removed from the latest draft, which focused mostly on Ukraine.
The initial terms caught European officials by surprise when it leaked last week and stirred frustration that they were not consulted, the official said.
“This is not up to them,” the official said, referring to the US and Russia.
In Geneva, Rubio offered assurances to Europeans on Monday that conditions directly involving Europe and Nato would be “part of a separate track because it involves input from them”.
Rubio also said the early plan received “input from both sides” and was changing “every day”.
European officials – Zelenskyy’s main backers, who fear being sidelined from talks that could affect the continent’s future – had crafted their own amendments to the initial 28-point US plan.
They countered conditions to restrict Ukraine’s military and pre-empt land concessions, according to the text seen by the Post.
Rubio said he was unaware of a “counterplan” when asked by reporters about a European version.
One European diplomat said there was a sense of “mystery around the current phase of negotiations” between the US and Ukraine.
“We are not on board. We are trying to get on board, but it is being met for the moment with some rejections from Americans.”
European officials had wanted “a structured approach with diplomats sitting together, huddling together and creating [something] that sounds like diplomacy rather than something written on ChatGPT, or the Russian version of it”, the diplomat said.
Today, European Council President Antonio Costa said the meetings in Geneva, where senior European officials were present, yielded progress. “Some issues remain to be resolved, but the direction is positive,” Costa said.
He said the 27-nation European Union would keep “supporting this process” and that conditions “directly” concerning it, such as sanctions against Moscow, Russian frozen assets in Europe or Ukraine’s effort to join the EU, “require the full involvement and decision” of the bloc.
The Europeans opposed some conditions previously floated in the US proposal, which included Washington getting a cut of profits of investments made in Ukraine with US$100 billion ($178b) in Russian sovereign assets.
A modified European version of the plan said that Russia’s frozen assets, largely held in Europe, would be used to rebuild Ukraine and “remain frozen until Russia compensates damage to Ukraine”.
It also raised the cap on Ukraine’s military from 600,000 troops to 800,000 “in peacetime”, and it referred to a US security guarantee for Ukraine similar to Nato’s Article 5 – the clause stating that an attack on one is an attack on all.
Trump posted on Truth Social after US and Ukrainian officials reported progress toward a deal: “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,” the post said. “GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow had not received anything official on the “updated and refined peace framework” that was drafted at the Geneva meeting that included US special envoy Steve Witkoff; Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.
Peskov said Russia remained open to negotiations after President Vladimir Putin said that an earlier 28-point peace plan could “serve as the basis for a final peace settlement”.
By contrast, Ushakov, the presidential aide, said that what he described as a “European plan” whose details were reported by media was “unconstructive”.