NYT: "Russia Unlikely to Accept"
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, announced via his Telegram channel on the 25th (local time) that he had discussed "ways to accelerate genuine peace" with a U.S. negotiation delegation.
President Zelensky said that he spoke for about an hour with Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the eldest son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, regarding ways to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
He stated, "It was a very good conversation. We discussed many details and good ideas," adding, "New ideas emerged on how to bring about genuine peace. The discussion covered the format of consultations, meetings, and, of course, the timeline."
As the war in Ukraine nears its fourth year, President Trump has been pushing for an agreement to end the conflict. Reuters reported that in recent weeks, peace efforts led by Special Envoy Witkoff and Kushner have been making gradual progress.
President Zelensky also revealed that, as part of discussions with the United States, Ukraine had unveiled a draft peace plan consisting of 20 articles the previous day.
This draft, which was presented at a media briefing the day before its release, is a counterproposal that reduces some points from the 28-article peace plan previously discussed between the United States and Russia. The 28-article plan had been criticized as favoring Russia, as it required Ukraine to cede territory to Russia and limit the size of its military. In the new 20-article peace plan, President Zelensky explained that "the line of troop deployment as of the date of the agreement in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions will effectively be recognized as the line of contact."
However, President Zelensky also noted that the core territorial issues remain unresolved even in the new 20-article draft, and stated that a meeting with President Trump would be necessary to address the most sensitive matters.
The White House did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
President Zelensky said that Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's chief negotiator, was scheduled to have another round of talks with the U.S. delegation later in the day.
Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, said that Russia was analyzing documents related to the ceasefire proposal brought from the United States by special envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
However, The New York Times assessed that Russia is unlikely to accept Ukraine's ceasefire proposal. This is because there is a significant gap between Russia's position and Ukraine's proposals on issues such as border changes and Western security guarantees for Ukraine, and because Russia, which currently holds the initiative on the battlefield, has no reason to back down from its core demands.
Alexei Naumov, an international affairs expert residing in Russia, commented on Telegram that the new ceasefire proposal is "a complete mockery (of Russia)" and that "the intention is clear: Ukraine presents it as a 'compromise' to the United States, and if it fails, they will blame Russia."
However, The New York Times reported that experts believe Russia is showing interest in peace negotiations in order to maintain smooth relations with the United States and avoid being blamed for the war.
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