Zelensky sees window for US mediation to end Ukraine war
Ukraine's president says there is a limited window for US mediation to help end the war with Russia, stretching from this December until the end of summer 2027. Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine has drafted a one-page set of suggestions with US and European officials that will be presented to Moscow. He said the document includes ideas for a ceasefire and a previously discussed US proposal for a free economic zone in eastern Donbas to be administered by a third party.
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Zelensky told reporters in a weekend briefing that the ceasefire idea is the main point of the draft. He said the second part concerns what the Americans proposed regarding a free economic zone. The Kremlin has questioned whether such an arrangement is feasible, saying Donbas is formally part of Russia and that a third party would therefore be unlikely to manage it.
Russia has claimed four Ukrainian regions as its own, although it does not fully control them. Moscow has repeatedly said any settlement must involve Ukraine ceding those regions and addressing what it calls the conflict's root causes. Zelensky said the third element in the draft proposal concerns the role of the European Union and NATO and what Ukraine is prepared to do to achieve peace, although he did not elaborate.
The comments come as diplomatic efforts around the war continue to shift. Zelensky said the window he sees begins with the G20 summit in the United States in December and closes before the 2028 US presidential campaign dominates Washington's agenda. He said the ideas in the draft were developed jointly with Americans and Europeans, and that some came from earlier talks between US negotiators and Ukraine.
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The president also said Ukraine had shared proposals with the United States earlier this month, but had not given details until now. US-led peace talks collapsed earlier this year after Ukraine rejected Russian demands to surrender more territory, while Washington became increasingly focused on the conflict with Iran. US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were last in Moscow in January and have not yet visited Kyiv.
What remains unclear is how Moscow would respond to the latest draft and whether the proposed ceasefire framework could bridge the gap between the two sides. It is also not known how much support the plan has among European partners or what specific role the EU and NATO would be asked to play. The coming months will show whether the diplomatic window Zelensky described leads to renewed talks or another stalled effort.
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