President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine arrived in Mar-a-Lago to discuss with President Trump the revised draft peace plan that Kyiv has portrayed as its best effort to end the war with Russia.
But even before Sunday’s meeting began, it was overshadowed by news that Mr. Trump had held a lengthy phone conversation with Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, on the same day.
The 20 points in the proposal — which Mr. Zelensky unveiled after negotiations with the United States — cover a broad range of issues, including security guarantees Ukraine seeks to prevent future Russian aggression and commitments to rebuild the war-ravaged nation. Mr. Zelensky said on Friday that the plan was “90 percent ready,” while acknowledging that Ukraine and the United States had yet to reach full agreement on territorial questions that have been the biggest sticking points.
Here’s what we know about the 20 points.
What have Ukraine and the United States agreed on?
Most of the points, according to Mr. Zelensky.
The Ukrainian leader said he was especially pleased that Kyiv and Washington were largely in agreement on security guarantees to ensure that Russia does not invade Ukraine again. These guarantees would include maintaining a peacetime army of 800,000 troops funded by Western partners, as well as Ukraine’s membership in the European Union.
Mr. Zelensky wants the peace deal to include a precise date for Ukraine’s entry into the bloc, to make it a firm and concrete guarantee. But it remains uncertain whether the E.U. would agree to identify such a date, given the complexity of its membership negotiations.
The guarantees would also include a bilateral security agreement with the United States, voted on by Congress, as well as European military support to Ukraine’s defenses in the air, on land and at sea. Some European countries have said they are ready to deploy forces in Ukraine as part of this support package, though Russia has said it opposes any such troop presence.
Ukraine and the United States also agreed on a number of provisions to avoid a resumption of hostilities, such as a mechanism to monitor the line of contact. The draft plan also includes a commitment to release all prisoners of war and detained civilians, as well as to organize elections in Ukraine as soon as possible after a peace deal is signed.
What are the sticking points?
The fate of Ukraine-held territory in the eastern Donetsk region remains “the most complex point,” Mr. Zelensky said this past week.
A previous peace proposal drafted by Russia and the United States called for Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the areas of Donetsk they currently hold and turn them into a neutral demilitarized zone. Ukraine rejected that option, saying it could not unilaterally cede land that Russia had not captured.
The compromise Mr. Zelensky outlined builds on the idea of creating a demilitarized zone in Donetsk but expands it to include not only areas vacated by Ukrainian forces but also Russian-controlled areas from which Moscow would pull its troops. A buffer zone overseen by international forces would separate the two sides within the demilitarized area.
“The Americans are trying to find a way for this to be ‘not a withdrawal,’ because we are against withdrawal,” Mr. Zelensky said. “They are looking for a demilitarized zone or a ‘free economic zone,’ meaning a format that could satisfy both sides.”
Another sticking point revolves around a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in the southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. It is Europe’s largest such plant, with a generation capacity of six gigawatts, and Kyiv says it needs it for postwar reconstruction.
Mr. Zelensky said the United States had proposed that Washington, Kyiv and Moscow share control of the plant and profits from it. But he said Kyiv could not agree to trade energy with Moscow. He suggested a compromise in which the plant would operate as a joint venture between Kyiv and Washington, with the United States allowed to share its profits however it pleased. That suggested that Washington could separately strike a deal with Moscow.
On Friday, Mr. Zelensky told reporters that the “sensitive issues” — namely territory in eastern Ukraine and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — would be discussed in his meeting with Mr. Trump.
How could the United States profit?
Several points in the plan deal directly with America’s economic interests as part of a postwar settlement.
It envisions the creation of a “Ukraine Development Fund to invest in high-growth sectors, including technology, data centers and artificial intelligence.” U.S. and Ukrainian companies would cooperate to support reconstruction projects in areas including the energy sector.
The plan mentions the “extraction of minerals and natural resources” in Ukraine, something the Trump administration has made a priority for its economic interests there.
The plan says that “several funds will be established” to address Ukraine’s postwar recovery and rebuilding, with the ultimate goal of raising up to $800 billion. It says that “a leading global financial leader” will be appointed “to organize the implementation of the strategic recovery plan and to maximize opportunities for future prosperity.”
That is most likely a reference to the American firm BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, which the American side recently brought into the peace talks.
What has Russia said?
The Kremlin said that Mr. Putin had been briefed about the negotiations. “We aim to formulate our future stance and resume our contacts shortly via the established channels currently in use,” the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said last week.
A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in negotiations with the United States. She did not provide further details.
Russia is likely to reject the compromises offered by Ukraine on territorial arrangements and control of the nuclear plant. The Kremlin has repeatedly said it aims for a full military takeover of the eastern Donbas region — which includes Donetsk — whether achieved on the battlefield or at the negotiating table. It also has dismissed any notion of returning the nuclear plant to Ukrainian control.
Just hours before Mr. Zelensky landed in Florida, Mr. Putin said that “smart people” in the West were now urging Ukraine to “accept dignified terms for ending the conflict” and providing “good basic conditions” for Ukraine’s long-term security and economic recovery.
As the Russian Army advances, Mr. Putin said Saturday evening, Moscow’s interest in negotiating Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Donbas was waning.
“If the Kyiv authorities do not wish to settle the matter peacefully,” he warned, Russia will achieve its objectives “through armed means.”
On Sunday, ahead of the meeting with Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Trump spoke with Mr. Putin for more than an hour, Yuri Ushakov, the Russian leader’s top foreign policy aide, said.
During the call, the aide said, they agreed that a long-term peace settlement was better than the temporary cease-fire pushed forward by the Ukrainians and the Europeans. Kyiv must make a “courageous, responsible political decision” regarding the Donbas, Mr. Ushakov said, adding, “Given the situation on the front lines, Kyiv must not delay making that decision.”
Cassandra Vinograd and Ivan Nechepurenko contributed reporting.
Constant Méheut reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people.
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