Zelenskyy makes significant concession to end war in Ukraine - media

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to withdraw Ukrainian troops from parts of the eastern Donetsk region still controlled by Kyiv and create a demilitarized zone under potential peace terms, UNN reports with reference to Newsweek.

Why it matters

The publication notes that positions on territory have repeatedly stalled US-backed peace talks, which seemed irreconcilable since President Donald Trump's re-election to a second term. However, Zelenskyy's comments hint that weeks of exhaustive discussions have led to steps toward an agreement to end Europe's largest land war in decades, although obstacles to signing a final agreement still remain.

What you need to know

Zelenskyy told reporters on Tuesday that one option could be to create a "free economic zone" in demilitarized areas of eastern Ukraine, the publication notes. However, Russia would also have to withdraw its troops from parts of the east, but Moscow has shown no willingness to do so, Newsweek emphasizes.

Kyiv's leadership will put this issue to a public vote. The second option outlined by the Ukrainian president could effectively freeze the conflict in four mainland regions that would be controlled by international forces.

The publication adds that Russia has claimed the annexation of two eastern Ukrainian regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – together known as Donbas – as well as the country's southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula south of the mainland in 2014.

Russia is unwilling to relinquish its claims to these five regions, while Kyiv consistently promises to reclaim these territories and argues that ceding land would contradict its constitution, Newsweek adds.

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Several other issues, including the size of the Ukrainian armed forces and who controls nuclear facilities, also consistently hinder negotiations. Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian negotiators "have not reached a consensus" with the US on Donetsk or on who will be responsible for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest nuclear facility, which has been under Russian control since the first days of the full-scale war in 2022.

"But we have largely agreed on most positions," Zelenskyy said.

Addition

On December 23, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had received a "detailed report" from the representatives of the Ukrainian delegation at the peace talks, Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov, indicating that as a result of meetings with the American team in Miami, USA, "drafts of several documents have been prepared," including "on security guarantees, on reconstruction, and on the basic framework for ending this war," and that "the continuation of dialogue with America" is expected.