Russian invasion Negotiations

Russia: No official information received

Russia has not received any official information from the negotiations in Geneva, where a “new and updated” draft of a peace agreement in Ukraine has been produced. This is what Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said according to Reuters.

He also added that the Kremlin will not comment on any details of any draft to the media.

“We think it is wrong to hold discussions through the media,” says Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

There are also no plans for a meeting between American and Russian delegations this week. 

 

US and Ukraine agree on new peace proposal – dodges the most difficult issues 

The US and Ukraine have created a new draft peace plan between Ukraine and Russia. This is stated by Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya for the Financial Times.

– Almost everything we proposed was included, Kyslytsya tells the newspaper.

The 19-point peace plan leaves the most sensitive issues for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj to negotiate directly with US President Donald Trump. These concern relations between NATO, Russia and the US and control over territories, issues that the Ukrainian delegation did not consider it to have a mandate to negotiate. A meeting between the two presidents could take place as early as this week, according to the Kyiv Independent.

The Trump administration will now continue talks with Moscow, according to the Financial Times. The US has previously pressured Ukraine to agree to the 28-point plan that the country designed together with Russia.

Zelensky: Frozen Russian assets are crucial

Ukraine will continue to work out compromises in the US peace proposal together with its partners and the US – with the aim of strengthening the country, not weakening it.

This is what President Zelensky said in a video address during the Ukraine summit in Stockholm, Reuters reports.

He also says that the issue of frozen Russian assets is a crucial part and that Russia must pay for the damage it has caused in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Ruslan Stefanchuk, who is in Stockholm, says that EU and NATO membership must be part of Ukraine's security guarantees and in the peace plan.

Analysis: The US is blowing the trumpet – but will Russia agree?

The 28-point plan for peace in Ukraine that the US and Russia secretly designed is slowly but surely starting to change through the negotiations in Geneva.

At the same time, many European leaders have expressed their positive views on the development during the day. And Russia has been following the process very closely, notes Sky News reporter Ivor Bennet in an analysis.

But Bennett also believes that a possible meeting at the White House could overshadow the talks in Geneva.

– There are reports that European leaders may be on their way there to meet Donald Trump, and also reports that President Zelenskyj will go there, which in that case means that the stage is set for another showdown between him and President Trump in the Oval Office, says Bennett.

CNN's Matthew Chance writes in an analysis that even if the US, Ukraine and Europe begin to agree on a peace proposal, it is very likely not acceptable to Russia, "which has consistently refused to back down from its maximalist demands."

"And Moscow has so far faced limited pressure from the US to do so," writes Chance.

Picture on the US plan: "A fairly high level of amateurism"

The positive statements that have come after Sunday's negotiations between the US and Ukraine should be taken with a pinch of salt. This is what former Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt (M) told Sveriges Radio Ekot.

Bildt says that the US must express optimism because it is they who launched the latest peace proposal.

– And Ukraine is playing along, as long as it can. But what is going on behind closed doors about these concrete demands from the Russian side, we still know very little about, he tells the radio.

The former M-top also takes the opportunity to criticize the US's 28-point plan, which he believes is characterized by "a fairly high level of amateurism".

The negotiations of the last few days – that’s the point

• The US and Russia secretly developed a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, which, among other things, demanded that Ukraine cede Donbas and Crimea and halve its defense force.
• The plan drew strong criticism from Ukraine and European countries, who believed that it meant a Ukrainian capitulation and that Ukraine's interests were not being taken care of.
• The United States put heavy pressure on Ukraine to accept the plan by November 27, threatening to withdraw aid if the agreement was not signed.
• Europe put forward a counter-proposal that, among other things, called for NATO-like security guarantees for Ukraine and a complete ceasefire before territorial issues were discussed.
• After negotiations in Geneva, the United States and Ukraine agreed on an updated draft peace agreement, in which both parties emphasized the importance of respecting Ukraine's sovereignty.