Zelensky to call referendum for Trump’s plan if he is not satisfied — Axios

World December 27, 4:04

Vladimir Zelensky plans to agree on a framework agreement with the US leader to end the conflict

MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky will put US President Donald Trump’s peace plan to a referendum, if Kiev fails to negotiate a better position on Donbass during his upcoming talks with the US leader on Sunday, the Axios news portal said.

The portal wrote, citing a phone interview with Zelensky, that he plans to agree on a framework agreement with Trump to end the conflict.

"Zelensky also revealed he's willing to bring that plan up for a referendum," Axios wrote. "While Zelensky emphasized that great progress has been made, Trump's plan still demands painful territorial concessions from Ukraine in the east. Zelensky is still hoping to improve those terms and said he'll need to seek approval of the Ukrainian people if they can't get to a ‘strong’ position on territory."

On December 24, Zelensky shared a 20-point peace plan that Ukraine had allegedly presented to the American side at recent talks in the United States with the press. Among other things, the plan includes the introduction of educational programs in Ukrainian schools that would promote tolerance of various cultures, addresses the territorial issue, highlights Ukraine’s refusal to withdraw troops from Donbass, demands security guarantees similar to NATO’s Article 5, emphasizes the need for Ukraine to have a peacetime army of 800,000 troops, envisages Ukraine’s non-nuclear status, records the status of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, calls for ensuring freedom of navigation on the Dnieper River, suggests conducting all-for-all prisoner exchanges, and stipulates holding a presidential election in Ukraine. The plan also touches upon territorial issues and the status of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, although no compromise between the US and Ukraine has been achieved on these points.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that Zelensky’s plan, "if it can ever be called a plan, radically differs from the 27 points Russia has been discussing in its contacts with the American side in recent weeks, beginning from early December.".

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