The United States and Ukraine have said they have produced an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war with Russia, hours after European countries put forward their own alternative plan. The announcement followed talks in Switzerland between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a Ukrainian delegation led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. Rubio said he was “very optimistic” about progress, and a joint statement said any eventual deal would “fully uphold” Ukraine’s sovereignty.
The original 28-point US document, leaked last week, had been criticised for demanding Ukraine hand over territory to Russia, limiting the size of its army and agreeing not to pursue the Kremlin for alleged war crimes. The European plan, published on Sunday, omits some of those pro-Russian points. It says negotiations over territory should begin only after a ceasefire is agreed, starting from the existing frontline, and that both parties would agree on monitoring “under US supervision”. Unlike the US text, it does not call for Kyiv to withdraw from cities it controls in eastern Donbas, nor does it rule out Ukrainian membership of Nato, though it notes there is no consensus on the issue.
Other proposals in the European alternative include handing the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station to the International Atomic Energy Agency, splitting its output equally between Moscow and Kyiv. Ukraine’s army would be capped at 800,000 soldiers during peacetime, 200,000 more than in the US draft. Frozen Russian assets would be used for Ukraine’s reconstruction, rather than partly given to US investors. If Russia respects a “sustainable peace”, sanctions imposed since 2014 would be gradually eased and Moscow would be brought back into the G8.
The authorship of the original plan has been disputed. Rubio at first admitted it was conceived in Moscow, then insisted the US was its author. A group of US senators said Rubio had told them it was a Russian document deliberately leaked by Moscow, which Washington then passed to Ukraine. It was reported to have been drawn up by Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev together with Trump’s special representative Steve Witkoff. Speculation based on its language suggested it may have been written in Russian and later translated.
Speaking before the Geneva talks, Donald Trump said Ukraine had shown “zero gratitude” for US efforts. Zelenskyy responded that he was personally grateful for American military assistance, beginning with Javelin missiles, which had saved lives. Trump has since rowed back from an earlier demand that Zelenskyy sign off on the deal by Thursday, saying it was “not my final offer”. After the talks, Yermak said “very good progress” had been made, and Rubio said he was confident a deal could be reached “very soon”.
