“Let me finish your bloody war!“. Donald Trump thus spoke to Vladimir Putin in one of the phone calls between the two leaders, matching what the American president himself told participants of a US-Saudi investment forum in Washington. Meanwhile Axios revealed details of the US plan to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump’s plan
That Trump’s peace plan to end the war in Ukraine would guarantee Russia some territory in the country’s east that it does not currently control. – essentially the entire Donbass – in exchange for security guarantees from the United States for Kiev and Europe in the event of future aggression by Moscow, a source in the US government familiar with the plans revealed to Axios, what the White House believes is that Ukraine will still lose parts of the territory that must be handed over to Russia and therefore, “it is in Kiev’s interest to reach a deal now.”
28 points
Trump’s 28-point plan would give Russia full control of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions (which together make up the Donbass), although Ukraine still controls 12% of the region. Despite being under Moscow’s control, the region from which Kiev would have to withdraw would be considered a demilitarized zone where Russia could not deploy its own troopsAxios reported, stating that in two other regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the current lines of control will remain largely frozen, and Russia will return some territory, depending on negotiations.
Again, under the plan, the United States and other countries would recognize Crimea and Donbass as Russian jurisdiction, but Ukraine would not be required to do so.
The plan, according to rumors reported by the Financial Times and the Economist, would also include limiting the size of Kiev’s army and its long-range weapons in exchange for security guarantees from the United States.. It is unclear what the US security guarantees mean other than a promise to defend Ukraine from further Russian aggression.
Qatar and Turkey were involved in drafting Trump’s new plan and supported US mediation efforts, according to two sources with direct knowledge, and a Doha official reportedly participated in talks between White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Ukrainian national security adviser Rustem Umerov last weekend.
Umerov and negotiations with Witkoff
A source with direct knowledge of the plan said Umerov was assigned by Zelensky to negotiate with Witkoff and many of his comments were included in the text of the 28-point plan and many points were agreed upon during the talks.
The version of Ukrainian officials heard by Axios differs, according to which security advisers did not accept the terms of the plan during the meeting, stating that Kiev was against much of it. Before meeting Umerov, Witkoff reportedly discussed the plan in depth with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
A meeting between Zelensky and the American envoy was scheduled to take place yesterday in Ankara, however, a source in the Washington government revealed that the meeting failed because the Ukrainian president appeared to be walking back the agreement reached with Umerov and was not interested in discussing Trump’s plans. Zelensky instead went to Ankara with another plan he had worked out with European partners, which Russia would never accept, US officials said.
A second US official said that a corruption scandal among some of Zelensky’s closest advisers was another reason for postponing the meeting, that Trump authorized Witkoff to try to reach a deal with Zelensky on Turkey, then backed the decision to cancel the meeting. “Now we will wait. The ball is in Zelensky’s court,” said the US official, according to whom Zelensky, if he wanted, could go to Washington to discuss new US plans.
According to what Financial Times citing sources familiar with the draft plan which they described as “very biased towards Russia” and “very convenient for Putin”, the plan would also include recognition of Russian as one of Ukraine’s official languages.
Zelensky looks at Erdogan
Zelensky in Ankara he had ”a very productive meeting with the president of TurkeyRecep Tayyip Erdoğan”. He wrote it himself in X, explaining that he ”believes in the role of Türkiye”. The Ukrainian President also spoke about the meeting via Telegram.
“Since the beginning of this year in Ukraine we have supported President Trump’s decisive steps and leadership, every correct and strong proposal to end the war. And only President Trump and the United States have enough strength to finally end the war,” Zelensky wrote, thanking Erdogan for the meeting where “we discussed in detail real ways to end the war reliably and with dignity.”
“President Erdogan today proposed a format for negotiations, which I support, and it is important for us that Turkey is ready to provide the necessary platform, we are ready to work on any meaningful format that can bring results – added the Ukrainian president – but the main thing to stop the massacre and for lasting peace is that we work in coordination with all partners and that American leadership remains effective, strong and brings peace closer.”
“We are always ready to discuss proposals with Russia to activate the ceasefire and pave the way for lasting peace,” he said Erdoğan after receiving Zelensky, he underlined that he “appreciated the involvement of our ally, the United States, in the process”.
The Turkish president urged the resumption of talks between Moscow and Kiev through the Istanbul process: “In today’s meeting we underlined the need for the Istanbul process to continue with a pragmatic and results-oriented approach.” In the Turkish city in recent months – in May and June – two rounds of negotiations were held between Moscow and Kiev.
Peskov: “Russia is open to negotiations”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Erdogan’s remarks to journalists. “Moscow is open to resuming, open to negotiations. This pause is caused by the reluctance of the Kiev regime to continue this dialogue,” Peskov said, according to the Tass website.
