Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, looks back at the media in Downing Street, London, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP
Ukraine has presented the U.S. with a revised 20-point framework to end its war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday (December 11, 2025), adding that the issue of ceding territory remains a major sticking point in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Mr. Zelenskyy said the U.S. is offering as a compromise to create a “free economic zone” in the Ukraine-controlled parts of the eastern Donbas which Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede.
“They see it as Ukrainian troops withdrawing from the Donetsk region, and the compromise is supposedly that Russian troops will not enter this part of Donetsk region. They do not know who will govern this territory,” he said, adding that Russia is referring to it as a “demilitarized zone”.
However, Mr. Zelenskyy said there was still no common understanding on the land issue and that Ukrainians should vote on any territorial concessions in a referendum.
Kyiv, in the latest round of frantic shuttle diplomacy, is seeking to balance out a 28-point U.S.-backed plan whose original version was seen as too favourable to Moscow.
Mr. Zelenskyy added that Russia’s withdrawal from slivers of land in the northeastern Kharkiv and Sumy regions, as well as the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, was part of the discussion.
The contact lines in the partially occupied southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson would be frozen where they are, he added.
The U.S. also offered potential joint governance of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest such facility in Europe and currently occupied by Russia, which wants to keep the station under its own control.
Pressure to secure peace
Ukraine is under mounting U.S. pressure to quickly secure a deal with Russia, which has stepped up advances on the frontline in recent months and renewed massive attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Zelenskiy, following reports that President Donald Trump had
set a Christmas deadline for Ukraine to accept the peace
proposal, said Washington had not given Kyiv a strict timeline.
“I think they really wanted, or perhaps still want, to have
a complete understanding of where we stand with this agreement
by Christmas,” he said.
Apart from a 20-point framework, the general peace plan will
include separate documents on security guarantees, to prevent
Russia from attacking again, and on rebuilding Ukraine’s war-hit
cities.
Ukraine, which says it has been let down by previous
security assurances from allies, insists that guarantees are
ratified in parliament.
Zelenskiy said on Thursday he had an “in-depth” discussion
on the matter with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of
Defense Pete Hegseth and White House special envoy Steve
Witkoff.
Kyiv also wants to maintain a strong army after fighting ends, and Mr. Zelenskyy said the latest draft proposal puts it at 800,000 — higher than in an initial framework, according to reports.
Published – December 12, 2025 07:44 am IST
