A wide-ranging American framework outlining how the war between Russia and Ukraine could be halted was quietly circulated in Washington, describing everything from new borders to economic incentives, and even a future Peace Council overseen by President Donald Trump, senior U.S. officials told The Post.
The document represented the most elaborate version yet of what the U.S. envisioned as a potential off-ramp, crafted after weeks of conversations held by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff with senior Russian and Ukrainian figures.
Officials said they had recently spoken with Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, during meetings in Miami. According to them, he responded encouragingly to significant portions of the proposal, though no one claimed it was a formal Ukrainian endorsement.
“The plan was drawn up immediately following discussions with one of the most senior members of Zelensky’s administration, Umerov,” one official explained. “So Umerov agreed to the majority of this plan, and he made several modifications to it, which we included and presented it to President Zelensky.”
They emphasized that these conversations did not amount to full alignment from Kyiv. “I don’t want to say that [Kyiv] full-heartedly … agreed to it and they’re ready to sign off. They agreed to the majority of the plan,” the official said.
President Zelensky acknowledged the broad American outline when he commented publicly on Thursday. “We agreed that our teams will work on the points to ensure it’s all genuine,” Zelensky said. “We’re geared up for clear and honest work—Ukraine, the U.S., our European and global partners.”
The proposal made clear that Ukraine would remain an independent state, but it also embedded extensive concessions that would permanently reshape the battlefield map.
Under the blueprint, Washington would recognize the entire Donbas region as belonging to Russia, including sectors that Moscow had failed to conquer even after more than a decade of fighting. Areas of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia would remain locked in place along current front lines, effectively turning active trenches into acknowledged borders.
Ukrainian forces would withdraw from the remaining pockets they held in Donetsk, leaving behind a neutral demilitarized zone barred to Russian entry.
In return, the U.S. would assemble a detailed system of security assurances intended to discourage any renewed Russian invasion. Those protections, however, depended on Ukraine refraining from attacks deep inside Russia; they would dissolve if Ukraine launched missiles at Moscow or St. Petersburg “without cause” or struck Russian territory.
Ukraine would also be required to restrict its military to 600,000 troops and formally commit to permanent neutrality by pledging never to join NATO, embedding that promise into its national charter. NATO countries, for their part, would agree not to station forces inside Ukraine, though allied aircraft would operate from Poland.
Beyond military matters, the plan called for the U.S. to open a structured Russia-NATO dialogue, fund major rebuilding operations across Ukraine, and gradually welcome Moscow back into global economic life. Provisions even envisioned Russia’s return to the G8 and long-term cooperation with the U.S. in sectors like energy, rare-earth extraction, data centers, and artificial intelligence.
Frozen Russian assets also featured heavily. The proposal directed that $100 billion in seized Russian funds be invested into U.S.-led reconstruction projects in Ukraine, with the U.S. receiving half of all profits. Europe would contribute an additional $100 billion of its own, while the rest of Russia’s frozen assets would be released for joint American-Russian ventures focused on “strengthening relations.”
Ukraine, meanwhile, would gain accelerated access to European markets as Brussels evaluated its membership aspirations.
Humanitarian issues were incorporated as well. The plan required a sweeping “all-for-all” exchange of captives and detainees — a category that included the transfer of kidnapped Ukrainian children — paired with family reunifications and long-term support for victims.
One of the most contentious elements involved wiping away all wartime legal claims through a universal amnesty. According to one U.S. official, Kyiv had requested that plank. The official noted that an earlier version had said, “Ukraine will conduct a full audit of all aid received and create a legal mechanism to recover any errors found and punish those who illegally profiteered from the war,” but Kyiv later pushed for broader immunity.
Ukraine would also have to hold national elections within 100 days of the agreement’s activation, restoring a process that had been suspended under wartime martial-law rules.
Oversight of the entire arrangement would fall to a new peace council chaired by Trump, who would be tasked with ensuring compliance, enforcing sanctions for violations, and verifying that both militaries withdrew to the agreed positions before a ceasefire formally began.
As part of the settlement, Russia would adopt legally binding promises of non-aggression toward Ukraine and Europe and reaffirm its nuclear non-proliferation commitments. Ukraine would restate its non-nuclear status. Europe’s largest nuclear facility — the Zaporizhzhia plant — would restart under IAEA supervision, with Russia and Ukraine sharing its output equally.
The blueprint also called for government-sponsored programs promoting cultural tolerance, minority protections, media freedoms, and bans on Nazi ideology in an attempt to lessen ethnic conflict. According to the authors, once all parties endorsed the agreement, the ceasefire would take hold immediately.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow publicly embraced the proposal, but within the U.S. government it was seen as the most expansive attempt yet to chart a political end to a conflict that had redrawn borders and created Europe’s largest land war since World War II.
On Wednesday evening, Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to tamp down speculation that the U.S. had formally decided to advance such a plan. He wrote that “Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas. And achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions,” adding, “That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”
His comments followed an Axios report claiming that an agreement had already been reached. That story relied on Kirill Dmitriev, a close Putin associate, who asserted he had helped develop the framework alongside Witkoff.
U.S. officials said they believed Dmitriev deliberately leaked details to position Russia as the driving force behind the plan. “Their POV out there first [because] it seemed like they were winning,” one of them said. “This is just a tit for tat. Always has been.”
Witkoff appeared to draw the same conclusion when he responded to the Axios article on X in a post he quickly deleted. “He must have got this from K,” he wrote about the reporter, Barak Ravid — seemingly intending to send the message privately, identifying Dmitriev only by his initial.
{Matzav.com}
