Nov. 20 (UPI) — Senior U.S. military officials were due to meet Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky to discuss new peace proposals the United States has been working on with Russia behind the scenes.
Axios reported the proposal is a 28-point plan on the back of U.S. President Donald Trump’s success in the Middle East where a plan he came up with produced a cease-fire that he was able to win support for from across the region is holding.
Ahead of the talks with Zelensky, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, met with Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
Svyrydenko said the visit had enabled the officials “to assess the situation on the ground and see the consequences of Russian aggression.”
Axios said U.S. and Russian officials had confirmed to it that the two countries had been been secretly consulting on drafting the new plan for the past four weeks and that it was a comprehensive one addressing the wider geopolitical issues as well as the war itself.
Those issues were said to include security guarantees, European security and the United States’ relationship with Ukraine and Russia going forward.
The drafting was being led by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special Envoy, in consultation with his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev.
Dmitriev expressed optimism for the plan’s prospects, saying Russia’s position was “really being heard,” and that he spent three days talking with Witkoff and other senior U.S. officials during a visit to Miami late last month.
He said the plan builds on principles established at Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s summit in Anchorage in August — ceding territory in exchange for a secure peace — with the overarching aim of figuring out a way to “bring lasting security to Europe, not just Ukraine.”
The BBC said the plan also required Ukraine to downsize its military, something Russia had previously demanded — but has been consistently rejected because of the extent to which it would render Ukraine dependent on outside forces for its security.
The Trump administration had yet to comment on the record but an official said Trump wanted the senseless killing to end and saw an opportunity to make a deal to end provided there was “flexibility.”
It was unclear on whom the onus to be flexible rested or how the plan would deal with the fact Russia does not control all of the territory it claims as its own. Giving up territory to Russia has been ruled out consistently by Zelensky.
The Ukrainians had been briefed with Zelensky’s national security advisor, Rustem Umerov, meeting with Witkoff in Miami this week but it appeared neither Kyiv or European capitals had been directly consulted.
The European Union said heads from Europe and Ukraine must have a seat at the neogtiating table.
Speaking in Brussels on Thursday ahead of a summit of European foreign ministers, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said any plan needed Ukrainian and European approval.
“What we, as Europeans, have always supported is a long-lasting and just peace, and we welcome any efforts to achieve that. Of course, for any plan to work, you need Ukrainians and Europeans on board. This is very clear.
“[Vladimir] Putin could end this war immediately if he’d just stop bombing civilians and killing people, but we haven’t seen any concessions on the Russian side.”
French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barrot said the Ukrainians “do not want any form of capitulation,”