KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday outlined a new Ukraine peace plan drafted with U.S. input, pitching a 20-point framework that includes a monitored demilitarized zone in parts of the Donbas as negotiations remain fraught, Dec. 24, 2025. The proposal, Ukrainian and U.S. officials say, aims to lock in security guarantees and a durable ceasefire while sidestepping unresolved disputes over territory and the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The updated blueprint follows weeks of talks between Kyiv and Washington and replaces an earlier, longer draft, according to Reuters reporting on the working document. Zelenskyy said Ukraine could consider mutual troop withdrawals from designated areas in the east, but only if Russia does the same and international monitoring is put in place, the Associated Press reported.
Ukraine peace plan: what’s in the new 20 points
Ukrainian officials describe the Ukraine peace plan as a package that links security, reconstruction and enforcement. It calls for binding non-aggression terms, U.S. and European-style security guarantees, and a structured implementation body to oversee compliance, according to Reuters. The draft also includes humanitarian measures such as prisoner exchanges and provisions aimed at stabilizing trade and investment as fighting grinds on.
A central new element is Kyiv’s openness to a demilitarized zone in the industrial east — a concept long viewed as politically toxic in Ukraine because it can resemble a frozen conflict. Zelenskyy has framed it instead as a reciprocal pullback tied to verification and a broader settlement, not a one-sided concession, according to PBS NewsHour.
Still, officials close to the talks say two issues remain the hardest: how any deal treats territory seized by Russia, and who controls the Zaporizhzhia plant — Europe’s largest nuclear facility — which has repeatedly raised fears of accident or sabotage. Zelenskyy has rejected proposals that would place the plant under joint Russian-Ukrainian-U.S. management, instead floating a U.S.-Ukraine arrangement with international safeguards, the AP reported.
Why this Ukraine peace plan looks different from earlier efforts
Zelenskyy’s earlier diplomatic push centered on a 10-point “peace formula” he promoted to global leaders in late 2022. In a speech to the G20, he urged support for a plan rooted in international law and restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty, as Reuters reported at the time. That framework emphasized nuclear safety, food and energy security, the release of prisoners and displaced people, and accountability for war crimes — a posture that left little room for territorial compromise.
Analysts noted then that Zelenskyy’s 10 points were designed to rally partners, not to bargain directly with Moscow, and that Russia rejected key elements outright. A 2022 explainer by Al Jazeera captured that gap, outlining how Kyiv’s demands clashed with Kremlin conditions. The new Ukraine peace plan does not abandon those principles, Ukrainian officials insist, but it does add sequencing and enforcement details — and introduces a narrow opening on force withdrawals that Kyiv previously avoided discussing in public.
Whether Moscow engages remains uncertain. Russian officials have repeatedly demanded Ukraine cede additional territory and accept limits on its future security partnerships — conditions Ukraine has called unacceptable. For now, Zelenskyy is wagering that a tighter U.S.-aligned package, backed by monitoring and guarantees, can pressure the Kremlin while keeping Ukraine’s red lines intact.
