Zelensky unveils 20-point peace plan

Kiev [Ukraine], December 25: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has unveiled a 20-point plan to end Russia's war against his country, as Moscow signalled it would soon relay its response to Washington amid intensified diplomacy nearly four years after the Kremlin's invasion.
Zelensky said the draft plan proposes Western security guarantees for Ukraine modelled on NATO's collective defence clause, as well as provisions setting the size of Ukraine's armed forces at 800,000 troops.
He told journalists that while Kiev, the US and Europe had reached consensus on several major issues, the main sticking point continues to be territorial control over eastern Ukraine. Russia has long demanded that Ukraine cede control of the contested eastern Donetsk region as part of any ceasefire, a condition Zelensky has consistently rejected.
According to the Ukrainian president, the draft plan would require Russian forces to withdraw from Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
For the hard-fought Donbass area, including the largely Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the plan outlines alternative approaches.
One option would freeze the current front line in the Donbass as well as in the southern regions of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson, which are also mostly under Russian control.
A second option proposes establishing a demilitarized "free economic zone" in the Donbass, subject to approval through a referendum.
Ukraine's plan centres on the formal confirmation of the country's sovereignty and a legally binding commitment by Russia to refrain from future aggression. It envisages a non-aggression agreement between Moscow and Kiev, backed by monitoring mechanisms and Russian domestic legislation to enshrine the commitment.
Ukraine would reaffirm its status as a non-nuclear state, while the overall settlement would be legally binding and subject to international oversight.
The plan also calls for guarantees that Russia will not obstruct Ukraine's access to the Dnipro River or the Black Sea, and for a process to exchange of all prisoners of war and the return of detained civilians, including children.
The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest, would be jointly operated either by Ukraine and Russia or by Ukraine and the United States, which is Kiev's preferred option.
Economically and politically, the plan aims to anchor Ukraine firmly in the West through a path toward EU membership and preferential access to the EU's single market in the interim.
It proposes large-scale reconstruction and investment programmes, including cooperation with US companies and the creation of reconstruction funds designed to attract hundreds of billions of dollars in investment.
Ukraine would also accelerate efforts toward a free-trade agreement with the United States and commit to holding national and local elections as soon as possible after the agreement is signed.
Diplomatic activity has accelerated since US President Donald Trump presented a 28-point peace plan in late November, which unsettled Kiev and its allies by echoing several Kremlin positions.
Zelensky and his partners have since worked on a revised 20-point framework, including during recent meetings in Berlin and Miami with senior Trump administration officials, while the United States has also held separate talks with Moscow.
Source: Qatar Tribune