Peace deal, security guarantees, reconstruction — Zelensky unveils 3-track plan as talks intensify
Ukraine and its partners are working on three documents that form the basis of current diplomatic efforts to end Russia's war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 9.
The texts cover a framework peace agreement, security guarantees, and reconstruction.
Zelensky told reporters that the main framework plan now includes 20 points, after negotiators removed some from the original 28-point U.S.–Russian draft.
The president described the revised version as "a framework that keeps evolving" and must reflect "the interests of Ukraine, Europe, and the world."
The second document focuses on security guarantees, which Kyiv is preparing with both Washington and European partners, Zelensky said.
"I'm waiting for proposals from our military and from their dialogue with the Americans," he added, saying that guarantees remain central to any discussion.
Zelensky acknowledged that the U.S. "is not yet ready to see Ukraine in NATO," calling it "open information," and noted that Kyiv's current priority is building effective guarantees from Europe's Coalition of the Willing and, critically, from the U.S.
"The U.S. said they want Ukraine to have realistic security guarantees this time, approved by Congress, so that we can feel them, so that we have weapons," Zelensky said.
"If needed, sanctions would be applied, so that we have air defense, and it should be Article 5-like. Like the Fifth Amendment. But we haven't worked out the details yet."
The third document addresses Ukraine's reconstruction, which Zelensky described as essential to planning for the country's future even as the war continues.
The Ukrainian president made the comments after receiving a briefing from Ukraine's negotiating team on consultations held in London with EU national security advisers.
Kyiv and several European partners completed their own revisions to a peace proposal earlier on Dec. 9, aiming to present a unified approach as the U.S. urges faster progress.
Territory-related questions, including the status of Donbas, continue to surface in talks and are raised by Moscow, Zelensky said, but Ukraine responds to them consistently.
European leaders have grown frustrated by their exclusion from U.S.–Russian contacts, which produced the earlier 28-point draft. Kyiv has responded by deepening its diplomatic engagements.
Zelensky held talks in London on Dec. 8 with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other leaders before traveling to Brussels for meetings with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and EU officials.
On Dec. 9, he met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Leo XIV in Rome.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov visited Washington last week to continue refining the U.S.-backed proposal.
Zelensky said earlier on Dec. 9 that Ukraine, together with Europe, has finalized revisions to a peace proposal and plans to present them to the U.S. shortly.
But as talks intensify, Kremlin officials say Russia still refuses to compromise on its core demands, including forcing a withdrawal from unoccupied parts of Donetsk Oblast.
