The Washington Post: U.S. and Europe are developing a new plan to end the Russia–Ukraine war, offering incentives and security arrangements in exchange for a ceasefire along the current front line

The U.S. and Europe are gradually working toward a joint proposal for a broad peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, built around financial benefits and security guarantees for both Kyiv and Moscow, according to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.

The proposal is intended as a starting point for a final agreement on territory that neither side will find fully acceptable.

“We need to make the problem and the solution bigger to help both sides see what the postwar situation would be — and then make concessions,” an anonymous U.S. official familiar with the negotiations told The Washington Post.

The official said the plan has four main components:

• Rebuilding Ukraine: The plan calls for establishing a funding mechanism involving the World Bank and the U.S. investment firm BlackRock. Negotiators have already asked Kyiv for detailed cost estimates and assurances that the money will not be stolen. Ukraine is expected to provide specific figures in the coming days.
• Security guarantees: Ukraine would receive security guarantees of some kind from the U.S. and European countries in the event of another Russian attack, modeled on Article 5 of the NATO treaty. Moscow is also expected to receive guarantees: Russia would be able to enter into agreements with Europe “that address its security concerns,” though their specific terms remain unclear.
• Economic integration of Russia, Ukraine, and Europe: The plan calls for a major energy deal under which cheap Russian oil and gas would resume flowing to Europe, with profits from transit and sales shared between Kyiv and Moscow. This part of the plan would also set out the process and timetable for lifting sanctions.
• Territory: The proposal would freeze positions along the current line of contact. This is the most difficult issue, and such a compromise would probably satisfy neither side. The other components were included in the plan as “bonuses” specifically to persuade Moscow and Kyiv to accept it.

Although European leaders publicly expressed outrage at Donald Trump’s deal with Vladimir Putin on Russian diesel supplies, they remain determined to continue the diplomatic process led by U.S. presidential envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, The Washington Post reported. “It’s a moment to take heat out of the situation and get back to work,” an unnamed European diplomat told the newspaper.

Reuters also reported today that Witkoff and Kushner met with Ukrainian representatives in Miami last Friday and sought to convince them that Trump’s diesel deal with Russia would help bring the Kremlin back to the negotiating table.

“The idea was that the U.S. could go back to Russia and say ‘See, the Ukrainians stopped striking, and we gave you ​this deal. Now it’s your turn to do something,’” one source said. At the same meeting, however, Witkoff and Kushner said Putin was not ready to negotiate an end to the war. According to a Reuters source close to the Kremlin, the Russian president plans to return to negotiations only after capturing the rest of the Donbas.

The war in photographs: Kharkiv