Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the press before meeting with the president of Cyprus in Kyiv, December 4, 2025. GENYA SAVILOV / AFP
The pace of peace negotiations is accelerating. On Tuesday, December 9, after two days of travel to London, Brussels and Rome, Volodymyr Zelensky announced he was sending a revised version of Donald Trump's peace plan to Washington. This new draft, which is not public, was prepared with the support of Ukraine's European allies, as Zelensky faces intense pressure from his American counterpart to quickly accept a deal that has been viewed as unfavorable to Kyiv. An official source quoted by the Financial Times said on Tuesday that Trump hopes for an agreement by Christmas.
The US plan calls for Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the part of the Donbas in the East of the country that it still controls in exchange for vague security guarantees once the war ends. Occupying the entire mining region is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's main objectives. On December 4, Putin reiterated that if Ukraine refuses to cede the Donbas to Russia, his troops would "liberate these territories by force."
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