{"id":80424,"date":"2025-12-24T19:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T19:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/80424\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T19:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T19:55:07","slug":"ukraine-agrees-to-demilitarized-economic-zone-in-donbas-in-latest-trump-peace-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/80424\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine agrees to demilitarized economic zone in Donbas in latest Trump peace plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a>\u00a0has agreed to demilitarize the roughly 30% of the Donbas still occupied by Kyiv, making it an \u201ceconomic zone\u201d to advance\u00a0President Trump\u2019s peace plan<\/a>\u00a0laid out in full on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Kyiv would agree to make the area a \u201cfree economic zone,\u201d representing a major concession by Zelensky, who has refused to give up any Ukrainian land to the Russians.<\/p>\n

People take cover in a metro station being used as a bomb shelter, during a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. AP<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to demilitarize roughly 30% of the Donbas. SERGEY DOLZHENKO\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

So far, the Kremlin has not responded to the proposal, at least publicly. However, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin last week told reporters that he would accept nothing less than Kyiv\u2019s unconditional surrender.<\/p>\n

Russia has been demanding that Ukraine cede the entirety of the Donbas to Moscow \u2014 as the White House continues to believe the Kremlin still wants to take the entire country.<\/p>\n

An apartment building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia\u2019s attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, December 24, 2025. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

An injured elderly woman looks out of her broken window after an apartment building was hit by a Russian drone during an aerial attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. AP<\/p>\n

The news came on Wednesday as Zelensky revealed the US\u2019 final 20-point peace plan for Ukraine, which is accompanied by three other yet-to-be released documents laying out specifics.<\/p>\n

The documents are the result of special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner\u2019s shuttle diplomacy over the past month, undertaking\u00a0days\u00a0of negotiations with both the Ukrainian and Russian sides.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s 20-point peace plan, as described by Zelensky<\/p>\n

Ukraine remains a sovereign, separate nation from Russia \u2014 and all signatories agree to this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A \u201cmonitoring mechanism\u201d will be created to oversee the line of contact using space-based unmanned observations to watch for cease-fire violations.<\/p>\n

Ukraine will receive \u201cstrong security guarantees,\u201d laid out in supplemental documents.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s total military force will be capped at 800,000 personnel in peacetime.<\/p>\n

The United States, NATO and the European signatory states will provide Ukraine with security guarantees that mirror Article 5. If Russia re-invades Ukraine, there will be a coordinated military response and all global sanctions against Russia will be reinstated. If Ukraine invades Russia \u201cor opens fire on Russian territory without provocation,\u201d the security guarantees will be considered null and void.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Russia will ratify by law policies of non-aggression toward Europe and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine will become a member of the European Union within a specifically defined period of time,\u201d with Kyiv receiving privileged access to the European market in the meantime.<\/p>\n

A strong global development package for Ukraine, to be defined in a separate agreement on investment and future prosperity.<\/p>\n

Several funds will be established to address the recovery of Ukraine\u2019s\u00a0economy, the reconstruction of damaged areas and regions, and humanitarian issues.<\/p>\n

Ukraine will develop a free trade agreement with the US.<\/p>\n

Ukraine pledges to remain a non-nuclear state.<\/p>\n

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant will be jointly operated by Ukraine, the US, and Russia.<\/p>\n

Both countries will implement tolerance-education programs in schools and across society.<\/p>\n

In the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, the line of troop deployment as of the date of this agreement is de facto recognized as the line of contact.<\/p>\n

The Russian Federation and Ukraine will not try to change the established boundaries by force.<\/p>\n

Russia will not block Ukraine from accessing the Dnipro River and Black Sea for commercial purposes.<\/p>\n

A humanitarian committee will be established to resolve outstanding issues, including the return of all prisoners of war, as well as detained children and political prisoners.<\/p>\n

Ukraine will hold elections as soon as possible after the agreement is signed by all parties.<\/p>\n

This agreement is legally binding, and its implementation will be monitored and guaranteed with a peace council with Ukraine, Russia, and NATO members participating. Like the eventual peace board for Gaza, it will be chaired by President Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A full cease-fire will take effect immediately upon signing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u00a0has agreed to demilitarize the roughly 30% of the Donbas still occupied by Kyiv, making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,87,9045,1069,9046,9047,58,14123],"class_list":["post-80424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-trump","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-war","tag-us-news","tag-volodymyr-zelensky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}