Washington and Moscow to Negotiate Peace for Ukraine -By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

Washington and Moscow have agreed to engage in peace negotiations in December, aims at putting an end to the three-old Russia-Ukraine conflict. Reports said a tentative agreement has been struck, Special Presidential Envoy, Steve Witkoff, is unwaveringly expected for further Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Moscow, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov told TV reporter Pavel Zarubin.

Checking Facts

In that Zarubin’s report, Yury Ushakov noted that the leaked transcripts of his alleged conversations with Steve Witkoff were intended to hinder efforts to improve Russia-US relations. According the local Russian media, “A tentative agreement has been reached that he will come to Moscow next week.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to receive the US envoy: “If Witkoff comes, the Russian president will definitely receive him.” Russia and the United States have not yet engaged in discussions of the Ukraine peace plan, but the process will begin during Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow; the US envoy won’t be travelling to Russia alone.

On media leaks and what’s at stake

As reported worldwide, what’s at stake concretely is Washington’s peace plan for Ukraine. President Donald Trump has drawn a 28-point US peace plan, considered as highlighting what was referred to as depicting a “substantial progress” in bringing Russia’s and Ukraine’s positions closer together in a newly drafted agreement. U.S. has taken this initiative, primarily due to previous failures by several individual states and groups in implementing peace agreement between the former Soviet neighbours.

Russia’s position on US peace plan

Russia has not yet been formally presented with the US peace plan for Ukraine, but the document has been sent to Moscow through unofficial channels. “It’s not official, but we have the document.”

Russia has unofficially received several versions of the peace plan, which “is even confusing.” “Let’s say that we have some of the latest versions. I believe this is the case,” according to Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov.

The two countries’ teams have not yet held serious discussions but Russia and the US maintain contact, “including over the phone.” “No one has come to the table yet to discuss specific provisions,” Ushakov asserted, according to the transcript posted to Kremlin website. Russia is positive about certain provisions of the US peace plan for Ukraine, “but many things require specialized discussions among experts.”

Russia has not discussed the details of the US peace plan with anyone, while a number of its provisions “require really serious analysis and serious discussion.” The Europeans are “unnecessarily” interfering with the Ukraine peace process.

Will Europe participate?

The plan has also drawn criticism from several world leaders, including President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who shared a message saying that they welcome the U.S. efforts to end the war, but the draft requires “additional work” and that it is concerning how limiting the proposal is on Ukraine.

As expected, Europe seeks to participate in discussing the US peace initiative on resolving the Ukraine conflict. However, it’s not about the European Union as a whole but individual countries — France, the United Kingdom and Germany, a European diplomatic source told local Russian media Izvestia.

The US-drafted 28-point peace plan has surfaced in the media, which particularly provides for Russia’s control over Donbass, a major reduction in the Ukrainian army’s size, and Ukraine’s move to abandon long-range weapons. Brussels has distanced itself from Washington’s initiative, saying the option under discussion actually means capitulation for Ukraine.

Thoughts of Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on social media, has acknowledged the Trump administration’s 28-point plan and said that Ukraine has been straightforward in its mission to achieve peace. “A real peace—one that will not be broken by a third invasion. A dignified peace—with terms that respect our independence, our sovereignty, and the dignity of the Ukrainian people. And it is exactly such terms that we must secure,” he said in a video.

What Experts Say

Experts are increasingly confident that Europe may try to interfere in the emerging negotiation process in order to disrupt it. First of all, Europe may try to persuade Volodymyr Zelenskyy to fight to the bitter end and refuse to sign any plans, Bogdan Bezpalko, a member of the Russian Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations, noted.

“The EU could send more money to Ukraine, while its members could promise defense, financial, diplomatic, and other kinds of support to Kiev. They could even deploy troops to the [western Ukrainian] city of Lvov or promise Volodymyr Zelenskyy to establish a no-fly zone using NATO countries’ air defenses,” he added.

Meanwhile, Oleg Barabanov, program director at the Valdai Discussion Club, believes that Kiev will not agree to engage in negotiations. The draft document circulating in the media runs clearly counter to its position, while the ongoing corruption scandal is pushing Ukrainian elites even farther from a peace agreement because otherwise, they risk being labeled as traitors by the public and facing financial fraud accusations, the analyst explained.

Notwithstanding the discussion above, some experts say Europe is seeking to reshape US peace plan for Ukraine, in a parallel stage, put forward their own version of a framework agreement within the context of their collective interest.

In his article in Rossiyskaya Gazeta, political analyst Fyodor Lukyanov writes that the West is fussing over yet another US peace-keeping attempt because the proposed settlement parameters are based on reality, as US officials insist, rather than wishful thinking. And in reality, Ukraine is not capable of winning this war, and it can lose it entirely, suffering the heaviest losses on all fronts, he argues. So, the goal is to prevent any further losses and formalize the status-quo, albeit a painful one for Kiev.

Moreover, Lukyanov continued, Washington will not impose its 28-point plan on either Ukraine or Europe immediately, the more so that there is no unity in the White House itself. So, yet another round of talks will be convened, he concluded.

In a conversation with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, November 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed that the US-proposed plan may serve as the basis of a future peace agreement.

At the same time juding from above, it logically looks like the time has arrived to struck a compromise, it’s hard to say whether Russia would like it or not, but obviously Russia’s red lines’ have at least been outlined. Russia always maintains that its principal requirements has to be satisfied in order to end the conflict.

Concerned over regional security, Russia started the ‘special military operation‘ to demilitarize and de-nazify Ukraine reaches the four-year mark since launching the invasion into Ukraine in February 2022. Kremlin has warned, several times, against the decision to join NATO and the military alliance expansion eastwards towards the borders of the Russian Federation.
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