Global & US Headlines
Kyiv–Washington 20-Point Draft Floats Demilitarised Donbas & Joint Zaporizhzhia Control
On 24 Dec 2025 President Zelenskyy publicised a U.S.–negotiated 20-point cease-fire draft that, for the first time, offers a mutual troop pull-back and international buffer zone in Donbas while dangling shared management of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and he sent the text to Moscow for a response.
Focusing Facts
- Draft caps Ukraine’s peacetime army at 800,000 and seeks up to $800 billion in reconstruction funds overseen by BlackRock-style vehicles.
- Proposal would freeze the front by recognising the current line-of-contact as of the signing date, then create a demilitarised ‘free economic zone’ in both Ukrainian- and Russian-held sections of Donetsk.
- U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and developer Steve Witkoff shuttled between Russian aide Kirill Dmitriev and Ukrainian negotiators in Florida five days before the plan was unveiled.
Context
Great-power peace formulas that trade security guarantees for territorial ambiguities have a long pedigree: the 1953 Korean Armistice drew a DMZ without a treaty, and the 1995 Dayton Accords froze Bosnia’s front lines under NATO supervision. Zelenskyy’s draft echoes both—cementing a status quo he cannot militarily reverse while importing Western capital much like the 1948–52 Marshall Plan. Yet history also warns that demilitarised zones can become tripwires (see the 1936 remilitarisation of the Rhineland) if enforcement wavers. Structurally, this initiative reflects two trends: Washington’s outsourcing of diplomacy to semi-private actors and its coupling of peace with investment opportunities, and Russia’s pattern, from Transnistria to Abkhazia, of accepting ‘frozen conflicts’ only when it dictates terms. Whether this moment matters a century from now hinges on one question: does it mark the start of a Korean-style cold standoff on Europe’s edge, or merely another Minsk-like pause before the guns resume? If the latter, the plan will be footnote; if the former, today’s draft could delineate Europe’s de facto borders for decades.
Perspectives
US and allied mainstream media outlets
e.g., The Seattle Times, The Independent, AP regional papers — Frame Zelenskyy’s 20-point draft as a serious if imperfect step toward compromise, highlighting Kyiv’s willingness to discuss troop pull-backs and demilitarised zones provided Russia reciprocates. Stories lean on Ukrainian and U.S. sourcing and stress prospects for progress, tending to downplay how many concessions Kyiv is making and the sizable commercial carve-outs for American interests noted inside the plan.
Russian state-owned media
e.g., TASS — Dismisses the proposal outright, insisting Moscow will never accept it and painting Ukraine as a Western-run entity with no real sovereignty seeking impossible security guarantees. Coverage echoes Kremlin talking points, delegitimising Ukraine’s government and sidestepping Russia’s own maximalist territorial demands to justify rejecting negotiations.
Commentators critical of the Trump-brokered process
e.g., New Jersey Jewish News/Times of Israel column — Argue the Florida shuttle diplomacy is a façade that amounts to de-facto capitulation to Russia while giving Donald Trump a headline; contend Putin will never accept a mere ‘draw.’ Analysis is speculative and coloured by distrust of Trump and Putin alike, suggesting ulterior motives and casting negotiators as unqualified ‘nobodies’ without offering concrete evidence beyond opinion.