WASHINGTON, November 25. /TASS/. US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll will present a peace plan for Ukraine which has been whittled down to 19 points from 28 to Russian officials in Abu Dhabi later on Tuesday, Politico reported, citing US officials.
According to them, Driscoll is "selling" the peace plan that was agreed upon by Kiev and Washington in Geneva on November 23. Demands concerning Ukraine’s territory have been altered, the US officials shared. Those issues were left for US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to discuss, Politico added.
Earlier, CBS reported, citing its sources, that Driscoll is holding meetings with Russian officials in the UAE capital. According to the TV channel, Driscoll met with the Russian delegation for several hours on Monday evening in Abu Dhabi and he is scheduled to meet with them again throughout the day on Tuesday to discuss the peace process.
The Financial Times has reported that the senior US military official’s itinerary in the UAE also included a meeting with Kirill Budanov (designated as a terrorist and extremist in Russia), the chief of the Ukrainian defense ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR). The British newspaper said it was unclear if the three sides will meet in Abu Dhabi though.
On November 23, the United States and Ukraine held consultations concerning Washington’s 28-point "peace plan" in Geneva. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio characterized the meeting as "the most productive" since the inception of the conflict. Ukrainian media outlets reported that Washington and Kiev had succeeded in reaching an agreement on the majority of the plan’s provisions. As Rubio indicated, the US consented to put the matters of Ukraine’s European integration and NATO membership as "a separate track."
Reports in Western media suggest that the initial version of the US plan included provisions for Ukraine to renounce its pursuit of NATO membership, coupled with a commitment from the alliance not to integrate Kiev. The proposal also reportedly involved US and international recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and Donbass, the withdrawal of Ukrainian military units from the territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the formal adoption of Russian as an official language in Ukraine, a cap on the size of the Ukrainian army, and the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions. European Union leaders have voiced their disagreement with several of these points and announced the launch of work on counterproposals.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Russia views the draft plan for Ukraine it has received from the American side as substantive. "The US framework — Trump’s framework — is currently the only substantive thing," he pointed out. "We believe that it could be a very good basis for talks, and this is what our president has stated," Peskov added.