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The White House is putting strong pressure on Ukraine to approve its plan to end the conflict with Russia, which includes territorial concessions, Axios reports, citing sources.
According to Axios, "the territorial concessions demanded by Kiev remain a serious problem for the agreement."
Some European leaders are advising Zelensky not to rush into a deal, especially one that would force him to give up territory, the article says.
However, the American side believes that "Zelensky may have offered a solution to the territorial issue," raising the possibility of holding a referendum. "The official noted that the US sees Zelensky's move as progress," Axios reports, while also stating that the Europeans would support such a referendum.
The Kremlin has already rejected the idea of holding a referendum, as this would require declaring a ceasefire along the front line, which Moscow considers unacceptable as it would imply the presence of Ukrainian troops in Donbas.
Yesterday, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held a virtual meeting with the national security advisers of Ukraine, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, where they discussed plans for a demilitarized zone.
A White House official said those discussions, as well as the latest round of talks between the United States and Ukraine on Thursday, showed enough progress to convince Trump to send Witkoff and Kushner to Europe. “They believe there is a chance for peace and the president trusts them,” another Trump administration official said, the report said.
The parties also made progress on security guarantees during the digital meeting.
A senior US official said the Trump administration is ready to provide Ukraine with a guarantee under NATO's Article 5, which would be approved by Congress and would be legally binding, Axios reports.
"We want to give the Ukrainians a security guarantee that, on the one hand, will not be a blank check, but, on the other hand, will be quite strong. We are ready to present it to Congress for a vote," the US official said.
Negotiations on an economic package and post-war reconstruction are also progressing well, according to a US official.
"Under the current proposal, the war would end with Ukraine retaining sovereignty over 80% of its territory, receiving the largest and strongest security guarantee it has ever received, and receiving a very significant package of economic support," the US official added.
It is recalled that on Thursday, President Trump again accused Volodymyr Zelensky of not being ready to make peace, claiming that the "only opponent" of the peace plan proposed by the US is the Ukrainian president.
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