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The United States is still pushing for Kyiv to make big territorial concessions to Russia to halt the war that started with Moscow’s February 2022 invasion, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday.
Washington wants only Ukraine to withdraw its troops from parts of the Donetsk region, not Russia, where a demilitarised “free economic zone” as a buffer between the two armies would be installed, Zelenskyy told reporters.

In a recent development, the United States has proposed a strategy where Russia would maintain its southern positions within Ukraine, yet withdraw some forces from northern regions not officially annexed by President Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy’s remarks appear to show little has changed in Washington’s core position on how the conflict should end since it sent a 28-point plan to Kyiv and Moscow last month that heavily favoured Russia.
Ukraine has been revising that and this week sent a 20-point counter-proposal to Washington, the full details of which have not been published.
“We have two key points of disagreement: the territories of Donetsk and everything related to them, and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. These are the two topics we continue to discuss,” Zelenskyy told reporters at a briefing.

“They observe Ukrainian troops vacating the Donetsk region, and the suggested agreement is that Russian military forces refrain from entering this area, which they now refer to as a ‘free economic zone,'” Zelensky remarked regarding the American proposal.

Zelensky has long said he has no “constitutional” or “moral” right to cede Ukrainian land, and said his citizens should have the final say on the issue of territory.

“I am convinced that this issue should be resolved by the Ukrainian people. Whether through elections or a referendum, the voice of Ukraine must be heard,” he emphasized.

He questioned, “Why does the opposing faction not retreat an equivalent distance in the opposite direction?” indicating that numerous issues remain unanswered.

Zelenskyy also pushed back against the idea of a unilateral Ukrainian withdrawal in the Donetsk region.

On Thursday, reports emerged claiming that the town of Siversk in the Donetsk region has been seized by advancing forces, marking their swiftest progression in a year, according to an analysis by AFP.

Under the US plan, Russia would relinquish territory it has captured in the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions — three areas over which Moscow has not made a formal territorial claim.
In 2022, Russia claimed to formally annex the Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, despite not having full control over them.
Ukraine’s troops still hold around one-fifth of the Donetsk region, according to analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) by the Agence France-Presse news agency.
Much of eastern and southern Ukraine has been decimated by fighting.
Tens of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes.
Russia, which has the numerical advantage in manpower and weapons, has been grinding forward on the battlefield.

It claimed Thursday to have captured the town of Siversk in the Donetsk region with its army advancing at its fastest pace in a year, according to AFP’s analysis.

Zelenskyy discusses timeline for a deal

Ukraine’s European allies were on Thursday holding a video conference to discuss the latest proposals.
Trump has largely sought to sideline them from the process, preferring to deal directly with Moscow and Kyiv in shuttle diplomacy led by his envoy Steve Witkoff and, lately, his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Zelenskyy said that although there was no strict deadline to finalise an agreement, Washington wanted to have the contours of a deal ready by Christmas.
“There were no specific, ultimatum-style date constraints,” he said, adding that the United States “genuinely wanted, and perhaps still wants, to have a full understanding by Christmas of where we are with this agreement.”
He also said that despite the diplomatic scramble, he saw no indication Russia wanted to halt its invasion.
“In my view, they need a pause. They need it, but they’re not taking it. I don’t see any sign that they want to end the war,” Zelenskyy said.

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