The White House: Ukraine agrees to US peace deal

The White House said Tuesday that the issues still stuck in talks to end Russia’s war on Ukraine aren’t intractable but will require further negotiations.

White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt said on X, “the United States has made tremendous progress toward a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine”.

“There are some sensitive but not intractable details that need to be resolved and will require further talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States,” she said.

A US official told ABC News on Tuesday that the Ukrainian delegation had formally agreed to the terms of the US-proposed peace deal with Russia, with some details specified.

The network quoted the unnamed official as saying: “The Ukrainians have agreed to the peace agreement, there are some minor details that need to be sorted out, but they have agreed to the agreement”.

Ukraine’s approval coincided with secret talks held by US Secretary of the Armed Forces Dan Driscoll on Monday with a Russian delegation in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, as part of Washington’s intensified efforts to revive the peace process.

ABC News noted that the 28-point US peace plan, which was presented to Ukraine in Geneva, underwent substantial amendments to only 19 points, with sensitive points related to amnesty for acts committed during the war deleted, as well as the removal of proposed limits on the size of the Ukrainian army in the future.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States is very close to reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.

“It’s not easy, but I think we’re very close to reaching an agreement. We’ll see,” Trump added.

From its part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that they are open to negotiating on Ukraine, saying, “We’re waiting for the American side to share with us the official version of the peace plan”.

This came in a statement to Russian journalists on Tuesday, where he indicated that Moscow is following media reports related to the US peace plan on Ukraine.

“We understand that some amendments have been made to the text that has appeared… At some point, we will probably have our contacts with the Americans and officially receive the plan… So far, nothing new”.

Peskov explained that there is a lot of conflicting information circulating about this plan, adding: “We’re waiting for the American side to share with us the official version of the peace plan… We will remain fully open to the negotiation process, and we want to achieve our goals through political and diplomatic means”.

He recalled that the negotiations that took place in Istanbul in 2022 were stopped by Ukraine, saying: “You can notice that the situation is now developing a little differently… Based on this project put forward by US President Donald Trump, efforts between the Ukrainians and the Americans continue”.

Peskov stressed that the plan prepared by the Trump administration could form a good basis for negotiations.

Regarding Europe’s participation in this process, Peskov said: “It’s difficult to talk about the European security architecture without the participation of the Europeans… At some point, their participation will of course be necessary”.

Despite the initial approval, Volodymyr Zelensky indicated in a speech on Monday night that more work was needed on the plan, which was amended over the weekend.

Following the weekend talks, Russian officials said they had not received any updates on what was discussed in Geneva or the adjustments made following the talks between US and Ukrainian officials.

At the conclusion of the Geneva talks, Rubio returned to the United States, while Driscoll traveled to Abu Dhabi, where on Monday he met privately with a Russian delegation to review amendments to the 28-point plan discussed in Geneva, according to the official.