Donald Trump said on Monday that “I think we're closer now than we have been, ever” towards an agreement on a peace deal for Ukraine.
After two days of talks in Berlin, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky emerged flanked by his European allies with a framework for the security guarantees he says he needs to end the war.
With the US now offering Nato-style protections, the main barrier to peace is territory - something Zelensky says he cannot and will not give up.
He was optimistic enough to say that talks in the US could follow as soon as this weekend, though.
Any agreement on the revised 20-point plan still depends on the Kremlin, which says it is waiting for an update from Washington.
Russia remained unyielding on Tuesday, shooting down any prospect of giving back land or accepting peacekeepers in Ukraine, before seeing the proposals.
Below we look at what we know about the plan - and potential problems - so far.
Ukraine gives up on Nato...
Zelensky offered to give up on Ukraine’s ambitions to join Nato as he held five hours of intense talks with US negotiators on Sunday.
Trump has opposed the idea since taking office, and it may not have been on the table for some time. But security experts say it shows the US Zelensky’s approach to negotiating in good faith.
Brett Bruen, a former foreign policy adviser in the Obama administration, said it was “a way for Zelensky to contrast Ukraine’s willingness for significant concessions for peace at a time when Moscow has been short on any significant concessions”.
...and receives ‘Nato-style’ guarantees
Ukraine is still asking for clear security guarantees, which Europe has offered to front with a ‘multinational force’ made up of Coalition of the Willing members and supported by the US.
With “90 per cent” of the issues with the draft plan now resolved, Washington finally offered Ukraine safeguards modelled on Nato’s Article 5 clause on collective defence, according to US officials.
It was an unprecedented victory for Kyiv, with both Ukraine and European leaders arguing that guarantees must come before any talk of land swaps.
Details are still scarce and it is unclear what kind of response the US would be committed to should Russia break the peace. US officials said it was the “platinum standard”, but would not be on offer forever.
Russia still says it will not accept what it calls Nato peacekeepers in Ukraine under any circumstances.
US optimistic about progress on territory
Ukraine is bound by its constitution not to give up any land, and Zelensky has insisted he is not willing or able to give up the land Russia demands.
The US delegation still believes there is room for movement. One official said after talks that their side still feels “really good about the progress that we've made, including on territories”.
They said Zelensky will now relay some “thought-provoking ideas” produced by the US to his team.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister on Tuesday said Moscow was unwilling to make any concessions on the Donbas, Crimea or ‘Novorossiya’, an imperial distinction for the land north of the Black Sea.
Zelensky hailed progress but acknowledged in comments to reporters that the issue “is a painful one, because Russia wants what it wants, and we can't go any further”.
Ukraine’s future in the EU
US officials said on Monday that Russia would accept Ukraine joining the EU as part of their agreement to end the war.
A senior source told the AFP news agency on Friday that they could see Ukraine joining as soon as January 2027, but diplomats in Brussels said the idea was “unrealistic”.
The issue remains controversial in parts of Europe, but the bloc would back the move. Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said last month that Ukraine’s membership would be a “major security guarantee” in its own right.
Sharing power - literally
One of the 28 points included in the original US draft - since whittled down to 20 - was the idea of sharing power produced at Europe’s largest nuclear power station.
Russia has held the Zaporizhzhia plant since the start of the war.
A US official said following the Berlin talks that they were close to finding an agreement whereby both sides could share power, though it is not clear how this would work in practice.
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