Zelensky Proposes Making Parts of Donetsk a DMZ

Ukraine said Tuesday it's ready to pull troops back from parts of the eastern front—if Russia does the same. President Volodymyr Zelensky outlined a revised 20-point peace plan that, for the first time, openly floats turning parts of the Donetsk region still held by Kyiv into a demilitarized buffer zone under international supervision. But Moscow would have to withdraw its forces from a matching slice of territory it currently occupies, the New York Times reports. The Kremlin has repeatedly signaled it wants full control of Donetsk and has shown no sign it would accept such a trade.

Zelensky said the blueprint, developed with the US in recent weeks from the Trump administration's original 28-point plan, largely reflects a shared position and has been passed to Moscow by American officials. He told CNN he expects an answer Wednesday. Details include:

• Unresolved: Kyiv and Washington have not settled two issues: how to handle Ukrainian-controlled areas of Donetsk, and the future of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. On the latter, Zelensky proposed joint Ukrainian-US management and suggested creating "free economic zones" both in demilitarized areas of Donetsk and around the plant to attract postwar investment—an idea observers say is unlikely to appeal to the Kremlin.

• Carving the territory: The demilitarized zone could cover Ukrainian-held cities such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, Zelensky said, which present obstacles to any Russian advance. Territorial concessions would have to be approved in a nationwide referendum, the president said, per the Times. A vote would be tough to hold without a ceasefire, the Washington Post points out.
• US role: Zelensky linked the talks to US domestic politics, arguing that Russia would be reluctant to openly reject a proposal brokered by President Trump; if it did, he said, Washington should respond with heavier arms deliveries and sweeping sanctions.
• Beyond territory: The plan calls for long-term security guarantees including a 800,000-strong Ukrainian peacetime military funded partly by Western partners, EU membership, bilateral guarantees from the US, and possible deployments by a European "Coalition of the Willing." All have been opposed by Russia.