Secret new plan to end the war in Ukraine: what are Putin and Trump planning?

‘Remember they used to say “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”? All is in the past.’

This is the message from Russian media today amid reports of a 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine, being hammered out by Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Negotiations have been ongoing – discreetly – between Russia and the US on a framework, inspired by a similar proposal the Trump administration developed to halt Israel’s war in Gaza.

After it was first reported by Axios on Wednesday, more details about the negotiations have been revealed, including how Volodymyr Zelensky has been sidelined in the process.

What could a peace agreement look like?

The US has already signalled to the Ukrainian president that he must backthe plan, as reported by Reuters – but that would come at an immeasurable cost to Ukraine.

Sources, who have asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the plan would force draconian measures on Ukraine that would give Russia unprecedented control over the country’s military and political sovereignty.

It is likely to be viewed as surrender in Ukraine.

More specifically, the framework includes cutting the size of the Ukrainian armed forces and for Ukraine to cede territory it controls in the east of the country.

In the past, Zelensky has rejected such conditions as non-starters in the peace process.

Under the plan, US military assistance would also be severely limited and so would categories of armaments used by the Ukrainian military.

Moscow-based newspaper, Moskovskij Komsomolets, also reported that as well as the other conditions, a buffer zone could be extended right up to the Kyiv region, but this remains speculative.

Why is Ukraine not involved in the negotiations?

Ukraine appears to have been left out in the process. Unlike past rounds of negotiations, Zelensky has not commented on jis involvement or the lack thereof.

A senior Ukrainian official earlier told Reuters that the government had received ‘signals’ about a set of US proposals discussed with Russia.

Ukraine has had no role in preparing the proposals, the source confirmed.

Zelensky, who was holding talks in Turkey with president Tayyip Erdogan, is due to meet US Army officials in Kyiv today.

In comments on Telegram, Zelensky did not mention the framework – but called for effective US leadership to help bring the war to an end.

He wrote: ‘The main thing for stopping the bloodshed and achieving lasting peace is that we work in coordination with all our partners and that American leadership remains effective, strong.’

Zelensky said only the US and Trump ‘have sufficient strength for the war to finally come to an end.’

Haven’t we been here before?

Ukraine and Russia have not held negotiations since this summer. Efforts to revive a diplomatic track had largely frozen since Putin arrived in Alaska to meet with Trump.

The Russian leader has long demanded that Ukraine renounce plans to join Nato and withdraw from four provinces he claims as part of Russia.

He has given no indication that it has dropped any of those demands and Ukraine says it will not accept them.

Currently, Russian forces control about 19% of Ukrainian territory and are grinding forwards, while carrying out frequent attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

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