After days of back-and-forth discussions about a peace deal, Ukraine has finally agreed to one to end its long war with Russia. A U.S. official on Tuesday revealed that President Zelenskyy will arrive in Washington later this week to finalize the details.
In a halfway win to end the brutal Russia-Ukraine war terrorizing the world for the past four years, the U.S. has managed to get Ukraine on board with a satisfactory peace deal. “There are some minor details to be sorted out, but they have agreed to a peace deal,” a U.S. official told CBS on Nov. 25.
Last week, President Donald Trump unveiled a 28-point plan to execute a ceasefire between the two countries. He also set Nov. 27 as the deadline for Ukraine to accept it. However, Ukraine wasn’t happy with all the terms, leading to further talks in Geneva over the weekend.
The Geneva meeting revised Trump’s original peace deal
The focus of the Geneva meeting was to protect Ukraine’s dignity in any prospective peace deal, which Zelenksyy said was threatened by Trump’s original plan. It required Ukraine to hand over territories in its Donbas region to Russia and indefinitely give up its NATO membership dreams.
Seeing that the plan unfairly favored Russia, Europe backed Ukraine and proposed alternatives to the controversial points. The Geneva meeting was termed “constructive, focused, and respectful” by officials.
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met Russians at Abu Dhabi
After the Geneva meeting, the U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with the Russian officials in Abu Dhabi to discuss the new plan. According to CBS News, Ukrainian officials also arrived in Abu Dhabi, though it’s unclear whether they met with the Russians. Details of the Tuesday meeting are being kept under wraps, as per directions by the veteran Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He said,
“Russia operates professionally, not leaking information before formal agreements are reached … Russia expects the U.S. to inform it of the results of consultations with Ukraine and Europe in the near future.”
Meanwhile, the former Defense Minister of Ukraine, Rustem Umeroz, took to his X to announce the nation’s agreement on the peace deal. “Our delegations reached a common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in Geneva,” he wrote. He also thanked President Trump and hoped for support from Europe moving forward:
“We appreciate the productive and constructive meetings held in Geneva between the Ukrainian and U.S. delegations, as well as President Trump’s steadfast efforts to end the war… We now count on the support of our European partners in our further steps.”
Russia’s response to the new peace deal
As for Russia’s response, a U.S. official present at Abu Dhabi said that “Secretary Driscoll is optimistic.” Promising that it is “moving quick,” they said, “we’ll get feedback from the Russians soon.” The final revised version of Trump’s 28-point peace deal has not been made public yet.
However, the White House assured on Sunday that they’ve “drafted an updated and refined peace framework” following the Geneva talks. They also confirmed that the basis of this revised peace deal was to “uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty and deliver a sustainable and just peace.” (via CBS)
While President Zelenskyy’s arrival in Washington later to sign the deal would be a significant step toward peace, it’s still incomplete without Russia’s approval. They have not yet promised to sign the revised peace deal, and even launched an offensive on Ukraine early on Tuesday.
