Reuters: First version of the US peace plan was based on Russian document

The draft 28-point peace plan proposed by the US was based on a Russian document.

Reuters reports this, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

According to them, the Russians handed US officials a document with their conditions for ending the war in mid-October, after the meeting of US and Ukrainian presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington.

The "unofficial document" contained demands that the Russians had previously voiced during the negotiations. For example, Ukraineʼs renunciation of a significant part of the territories in the east.

According to the agencyʼs sources, this document became a key element in the creation of the 28-point peace plan proposed by the US.

After the document was handed over, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They discussed the document, among other things.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva on November 23, Rubio acknowledged that he had received “numerous written unofficial documents and other such materials”, without going into detail.

In a transcript published by Bloomberg, Putin’s adviser Ushakov and special envoy Dmitriev discuss handing over a document to the Americans with a position they would then present as their own. Dmitriev says he doesn’t think the Americans will take the Russian version, but at least the American version will be “as close as possible to it”.

Peace plan for Ukraine

The first version of the peace plan proposed by the United States consisted of 28 points. One of the main provisions concerned territories and provided that Crimea, as well as the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, would be recognized as de facto Russian. The US President Trump set a deadline for approving the plan of November 27.

After the plan was leaked to the media, Ukraine, the United States, and European partners held a series of talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 23. After all the meetings, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported “tremendous progress”. Despite Trump’s words about a deadline, Rubio allowed for a more flexible schedule that would allow for more negotiations.

Financial Times sources wrote that the American plan was reduced from 28 points to 19. It is not known exactly which provisions were removed. The Telegraph previously published an alternative plan from the EU, which contained 24 points.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the document retained the points on the need to release civilians and prisoners of war on an "all for all" basis and return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. He also confirmed that the plan had been shortened and Ukraineʼs position had been taken into account.

Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsia, who was part of the delegation, said that the US agreed not to limit the size of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to 600 000, and the clause on amnesty for potential war criminals was reworked to take into account "complaints of those who suffered in the war".

The most contentious issues have been put on hold, including the issue of territories and relations between the United States, NATO, and Russia. They are to be discussed by Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump.

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