{"id":440507,"date":"2025-11-20T19:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T18:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/11\/20\/ucraina-kallas-minimizza-sul-piano-di-pace-russo-americano-ma-poco-dopo-zelensky-conferma-ci-stiamo-lavorando\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T20:21:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T19:21:18","slug":"ukraine-kallas-downplays-russian-us-peace-plan-but-shortly-afterwards-zelensky-confirms-we-are-working-on-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/11\/20\/ukraine-kallas-downplays-russian-us-peace-plan-but-shortly-afterwards-zelensky-confirms-we-are-working-on-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine, Kallas downplays Russian-US peace plan. But shortly afterwards Zelensky confirms: “We are working on it”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The EU is not keen on being sidelined<\/strong> by the United States and Russia over negotiations to end the war in Ukraine<\/strong>. This is the message that the head of EU diplomacy, Kaja<\/strong> Kallas<\/strong>, had just finished addressing to his star and stripes ally, the day after the publication in the international media of a vague peace plan draft<\/strong>, which would be discussed bilaterally between Washington and Moscow<\/strong>. Only to be sensationally taken aback<\/strong> by Kyiv<\/strong>, which announced that it was in possession of the document and wanted to work on it with the White House<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

“For any plan to succeed, it must be supported by Ukraine and Europe<\/strong>,” she told the press at the end of today’s Foreign Affairs Council<\/strong> (20 November). The High Representative emphasised that “our approach is focused” on new restrictive measures<\/strong>, in particular against the shadow fleet<\/strong> by which the Kremlin circumvents sanctions and exports its crude oil abroad. <\/p>\n

According to yesterday’s reports, a 28-point<\/strong> peace plan<\/strong> was agreed in principle between two heavyweights of the US and Russian administrations: Steve Witkoff<\/strong>, the super-special envoy tasked by Donald Trump<\/strong> with solving all the world’s wars, from Ukraine to Iran via Gaza,<\/span> and Kirill Dmitriev<\/strong>, an influential Kremlin advisor. <\/p>\n

The details remain unclear, but some elements have emerged suggesting a relatively advantageous<\/strong> solution for Moscow<\/strong>. For example, there is mention of crucial territorial concessions<\/strong> by Kyiv. As a quid pro quo for stopping the aggression, the invader would get the entire<\/strong> area of the Donbass<\/strong> (the two oblasts of Doneck<\/strong> and Luhansk<\/strong>, rich in critical minerals and already almost completely in Russian hands), would retain control of the Crimea Peninsula<\/strong> and withdraw from the other two regions annexed by a sham referendum in September 2022, namely Kherson<\/strong> and Zaporizhzhia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Volodymyr<\/a>
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (photo: Thomas Traasdahl\/AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

No freezing of the front on the current line of contact, therefore, while Ukraine would have to agree to diminish its army<\/strong> and renounce equipping itself with long-range weapons<\/strong> capable of striking across the border. Again, there would be talk of a reduction or discontinuation of US military assistance<\/strong>, just as any deployment of Western troops<\/strong> in Ukraine, as envisaged by the coalition of the willing<\/a>, would be categorically ruled out. Kyiv should also recognise Russian as an official language<\/strong> and grant the Russian Orthodox Church <\/strong>formal status<\/span>. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But as much as the former Estonian PM flaunted a serene firmness\u2014if Moscow really wanted peace, he said, “it would have accepted the conditional ceasefire<\/strong> offered last March<\/a>“\u2014his words have gone awry within barely an hour<\/strong>. Shortly afterwards, in fact, Volodymyr Zelensky<\/strong> resoundingly disproved her, confirming that he had received the draft agreement<\/strong> from the US ambassador in Kyiv<\/span>.<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian president is said to have “highlighted the basic principles<\/strong>” on which Ukraine wants to focus the negotiations, declaring himself “ready now, as before, to work constructively<\/strong> with our American counterparts, as well as with our partners in Europe and the rest of the world, so that peace<\/strong> is achieved<\/strong>.” Kyiv and Washington are expected to discuss how to improve the proposal, and Zelensky could meet Trump as early as in the coming days<\/strong>. The Ukrainian leader had previously branded such demands from Vladimir Putin<\/strong> as inadmissible. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In Brussels, the High Representative had just described the atmosphere of today’s meeting as “calm” because everyone knows that “peace plans cannot work if Europeans and Ukrainians do not agree<\/strong>.” That is why, she had explained, the ministers were “focused on discussing what we are doing”: on sanctions which, she affirmed, had a “huge impact” on the Russian economy<\/strong>, but also on protecting critical infrastructure from “Russian-sponsored state terrorism<\/strong>,” referring to the recent sabotage<\/a> on Polish railways.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/a>
US President Donald Trump (photo via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

The Union’s approach is based on two points: “weaken Russia and strengthen Ukraine<\/strong>,” Kallas repeated. It means not to let Kyiv lack the support<\/strong> it needs, both military and financial. The issue that has been on the table for months, in this regard, is the <\/strong>approximately \u20ac135 billion repair loan<\/strong> that Brussels would like to pay <\/a><\/span> with the frozen Russian<\/strong> assets<\/strong>. A burning issue, on which the deal was off<\/a> at the last summit in October, and on which the summit in December<\/strong> will again seek a balance. Yet, says Kallas, “we have not discussed financing” today, even though several chancelleries have stressed the “urgency to proceed” with the loan<\/strong> and overcome the reticence of some governments, Belgium in the lead. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The holder of the Farnesina, <\/span>Antonio Tajani<\/strong>, is of the same opinion as Kallas. He reiterated that “Europe will have to be part of the negotiation<\/strong>,” not least because it will be necessary to discuss how to withdraw the sanctions<\/strong> imposed on the Federation. “When there is finally a chance to sit around a table, we will all work to achieve peace<\/strong>,” he added, recalling that “Ukraine represents a security barrier for Europe.” Indeed, he says, it will have to be Ukraine that decides on the territories now occupied<\/strong> by the Russians. <\/span>On the issue of frozen Russian assets, Italy is in favour, but the deputy prime minister warns, “we need to identify the correct legal basis<\/strong>” because in such a context “mistakes cannot be made.”<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

His French counterpart, Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot,<\/strong> remarked that “peace cannot be a capitulation”<\/strong> for Kyiv, while the Polish Rados\u0142aw Sikorski<\/strong> expressed the hope that <\/span>“it is not the victim who is restricted in his ability to defend himself, but that the aggressive potential of the invader is limited<\/strong>.” <\/strong>Out of the chorus, as always, was the Hungarian voice: continuing to subsidise “a corrupt Ukrainian war mafia<\/strong>” would be unthinkable, said P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3<\/strong>, referring to the <\/strong>corruption scandal<\/a><\/strong> that exploded in Kyiv in recent days.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media rumours about a 28-point draft suddenly became real, shortly after the end of the Foreign Affairs Council of the Twenty-Seven. The High Representative had just claimed that “Brussels must be present at the negotiating table”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":440497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[26042,26327,26005,31856,32313,30509],"class_list":["post-440507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-antonio-tajani-en-2","tag-donald-trump-en","tag-piano-di-pace-en","tag-negotiations-war-ucraine-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440508,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440507\/revisions\/440508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}