NEW YORK, September 4. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s peace plan, jotted out during a plane ride over Siberia, muddied the diplomatic waters, leaving the West an excuse for delaying punitive sanctions that would also hurt European economies on the verge of a new recession. And it was expected to have some appeal to war-weary Ukrainians, the New York Times said in an article published on its website on Wednesday.

“In Kiev, the idea of a cease-fire was received with mixed emotions,” it said.

“But many Ukrainians, horrified by the mounting toll of more than 2,600 dead and uneasy about the economic costs for a country already on the edge of bankruptcy, want an end to the violence. Winter is approaching, and the other confrontation with Russia, over gas sales, seems unlikely to be resolved while fighting rages in the east,” the U.S. daily said.

On Wednesday, Putin proposed a plan to end the Ukrainian conflict. Aside from the ceasefire, the plan called for stopping offensives by all forces in southeastern Ukraine; Ukrainian armed forces to pull back and out of range of residential areas in the southeast; deploying international observers to monitor the ceasefire; an end to airstrikes; an exchange of all detainees; opening up humanitarian corridors; and repairing damaged infrastructure.