Big deal reached: Ukraine and the United States have agree on a 19-point peace plan

In an interview with the Financial Times, Sergiy Kyslytsia, Ukraine's first deputy foreign minister, said that the Geneva talks had resulted in "intensive" but "productive" discussions. During these discussions, the previous draft was thoroughly revised, and both sides assessed the outcome as "positive". After hours of difficult negotiations, the American and Ukrainian negotiators had reached agreement on several issues. However, the most controversial points, including territorial issues and relations between NATO, Russia and the US, had been "placed in brackets" for Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky to decide upon.

The Ukrainian delegation indicated that they did not have the authority to decide on territorial issues, especially the transfer of territory as suggested in the original draft, as this would require a referendum under the Ukrainian constitution. According to Kiszlica, the new draft differs significantly from the version that was previously leaked, which caused outrage in Kyiv.

Very few things are left from the original version,

Kyslytsia said.

The negotiations nearly collapsed before they had even begun. In the days leading up to the meeting, the Americans were frustrated by leaks and public debate about the origins of the draft. It took Andriy Yermak and Marco Rubio nearly two hours to ease the tension. The American side has

shown a willingness to withdraw the proposal to limit the size of the Ukrainian army to 600,000.

The proposal for a general amnesty for war crimes was revised to address the grievances of those who suffered during the war.

European allies, including representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and EU institutions, were also involved in the negotiations during the day. Washington must now decide how and when to present the draft peace plan to Russia. On Monday, the Kremlin announced that it had not yet seen or received any information about the US–Ukrainian draft.

It’s on the Russians to show if they are genuinely interested in peace or will find a thousand reasons not to engage,

Kyslytsya said. Ukraine, for its part, has expressed willingness to continue working towards a fair end to the war and to travel “wherever” to continue the process.

He also emphasised the broader significance of the Geneva meeting. “The fundamental achievement in Geneva is that we managed to preserve a workable partnership and dialogue with the Americans,” he said.