Zelenskyy open to creating demilitarised zone in Ukraine’s industrial heartland

President Volodymyr Zelensky said figuring out control of the Donbas region is ‘the most difficult point’ (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end Russia’s war, if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarised zone monitored by international forces.

The proposal offered another potential compromise on control of the Donbas region, which has been a major sticking point in peace negotiations.

Mr Zelenskyy said the US proposed the creation of a “free economic zone”, which he said should be demilitarised. But it was unclear what that idea would mean for governance or development of the region.

A similar arrangement could be possible for the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is currently under Russian control, Mr Zelenskyy said. He said any peace plan would need to be put to a referendum.

Mr Zelenskyy spoke to reporters on Tuesday to describe an overarching 20-point plan that negotiators from Ukraine and the US hammered out in Florida in recent days, though he said many details are still being discussed.

Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.

In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.

Asked about the plan, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Moscow would decide its position based on information received by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who met US envoys in Florida over the weekend. Mr Peskov declined to share further details.

American negotiators have engaged in a series of talks with Ukraine and Russia separately since US President Donald Trump presented a plan to end the war last month — a proposal widely seen as favouring Moscow, which invaded its neighbour nearly four years ago.

Since then, Ukraine and its allies in Europe have worked to pull the plan closer to Kyiv’s position.

Municipal workers offer plywood to residents to cover their broken windows after an apartment building was hit by a Russian drone during an attack in Kyiv (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Mr Zelenskyy said figuring out control of the Donbas region is “the most difficult point”.

Meanwhile, on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the US has proposed creating a consortium with Ukraine and Russia, in which each party would have an equal stake.

Mr Zelenskyy countered with a proposal for a joint venture between the US and Ukraine, in which the Americans would be able to decide how to distribute their share, including giving some of it to Russia.

Mr Zelenskyy acknowledged that the US has not yet accepted Ukraine’s counter-proposals.

“But we have significantly brought most of the positions closer together,” Mr Zelensky said. “In principle, all other consensus in this agreement has been found between us and them.”

Creating the demilitarised economic zone in the Donbas would require difficult discussions on how far troops would be required to move back and where international forces would be stationed, Mr Zelenskyy said, adding that it should discussed at the leaders level.

The working US-Ukraine draft also proposes that Russian forces withdraw from the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

Mr Zelenskyy envisions that international forces could be located along certain points of the contact line within the zone to monitor the implementation of the agreement.

Ukraine also proposes that the occupied city of Enerhodar, which is the closest city to the Zaporizhzhia power plant, become a demilitarised free economic zone, Mr Zelensky said.

This point required 15 hours of discussions with the US, he said, and no agreement was reached.

For now, the US proposes that the plant be jointly operated by Ukraine, the US and Russia, with each side controlling a 33% stake in the enterprise — a plan Mr Zelenskyy called “not entirely realistic”.

“How can you have joint commerce with the Russians after everything?” he asked.

Ukraine instead suggested that the plant be operated by a joint venture with the US in which the Americans can determine independently how to distribute the energy from their 50% share.

An elderly man looks out of his broken window (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Mr Zelenskyy said billions in investments are needed to make the plant run again, including restoring the adjacent dam.

The working draft ensures that Ukraine will receive “strong” security guarantees that would require Ukraine’s partners to act in the event of renewed Russian aggression. That would mirror Nato’s Article 5, which says an armed attack on one member of the alliance is an attack on all.

Mr Zelenskyy said a separate document with the US will outline these guarantees. It will detail the conditions under which security will be provided, particularly in the event of another Russian assault, and it will establish a mechanism to monitor any ceasefire.

The document will be signed with the main agreement to end the war, Mr Zelenskyy said.

“The mood of the United States of America is that this is an unprecedented step towards Ukraine on their part. They believe that they are giving strong security guarantees,” he said.

The draft contains other elements, including keeping Ukraine’s army at 800,000 during peacetime and making Ukraine a member of the European Union by a specific date. Limiting the size of Ukraine’s military is a key Russian demand.

Investigators working near the scene of a deadly explosion in Moscow (Investigative Committee of Moscow via AP)

The document also proposes accelerating a free-trade agreement between Ukraine and the US. The US wants the same deal with Russia, Mr Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine would like to receive short-term privileged access to the European market and a robust global development package that would include the creation of a development fund to solicit outside investment in Ukraine’s industries.

Other points include raising funds for Ukraine’s reconstruction, with the goal of attracting 800 billion dollars through equity, grants, loans and private sector contributions.

The draft proposal also requires Ukraine to hold elections after the signing of the agreement. Mr Zelenskyy’s five-year term was scheduled to end in May 2024, but elections were put off due to Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine is also asking that all prisoners taken since 2014 be released at once, and that civilian detainees, political prisoners and children be returned to Ukraine.

In other developments, an explosion in Moscow on Wednesday killed three people, including two police officers, Russian investigators said, days after a car bomb killed a high-ranking general not far away.

An official from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as GUR, told the Associated Press that the attack had been carried out as part of an agency operation.

Another official from the agency said the police officers had taken part in Russia’s war in Ukraine, without providing details.