The
Wall Street Journal has reported that the US is awaiting a response from Kyiv on its peace plan proposals, particularly regarding the recognition of Crimea as Russian and Ukraine's refusal to join NATO. Furthermore, the US has been considering the idea of a neutral zone around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).
Ukraine is under pressure to respond this week to a series of far-reaching Trump administration ideas for how to end the war in Ukraine by granting concessions to Russia, including potential US recognition of Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and excluding Kyiv from joining NATO.
The WSJ stated that, according to Western officials, these ideas had been laid out in a confidential document presented by senior officials of President Donald Trump's administration to their Ukrainian counterparts in Paris on Thursday 17 April. These ideas were also shared with senior European officials at a daytime meeting.
The US is now waiting for Kyiv's response, which is expected to come at a meeting of US, Ukrainian and European officials in London later this week. Then if there is a convergence among the American, European and Ukrainian positions, the proposals could be floated to Moscow.
To pressure both Ukraine and Russia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Friday 18 April that the administration might suspend its negotiation efforts if no progress is made on key issues over the next few weeks.
The US diplomatic push is intended to set the stage for a ceasefire, which would be broadly along current battle lines, and an eventual settlement.
Accepting some of the Trump administration's ideas could prove difficult for Kyiv since Ukraine has refused to accept that Russia has a legal claim to any of its territory.
