Volodymyr Zelensky says peace deal proposals that may end the nearly-four-year invasion of Ukraine could be finalised in the coming days. 

The Ukrainian leader said late on Monday night that a draft peace plan discussed with American officials during talks in Berlin earlier in the day is ‘very workable.’ 

If these plans are finalised, then they will be presented to the Kremlin before further possible meetings in the US next weekend.

The US on Monday said that there’s consensus from Ukraine and Europe on about 90% of the peace plan, while Donald Trump added: ‘I think we’re closer now than we have been, ever’ to a peace settlement. 

But Zelensky warned that key issues, including the fate of Ukrainian territory captured by Vladimir Putin’s invading forces, are yet to be resolved. 

He reiterated that Kyiv rules out recognising Moscow‘s control over any part of the Donbas, an economically important region in eastern Ukraine made up of Luhansk and Donetsk, neither of which Russia’s army fully controls. 

‘The Americans are trying to find a compromise,’ Zelensky said, before visiting the Netherlands on Tuesday. ‘They are proposing a “free economic zone” [in the Donbas region]. And I want to stress once again: a “free economic zone” does not mean under the control of the Russian Federation.’

The land issue remains one of the most difficult obstacles to a comprehensive agreement.

Putin wants all the areas in four key regions that his forces have seized, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognised as Russian territory.

Zelensky warned that if Putin rejects diplomatic efforts, Ukraine expects increased Western pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and additional military support for defence. Kyiv would seek enhanced air defence systems and long-range weapons if diplomacy collapses, he said

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