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American and Ukrainian negotiators have agreed on the framework of security arrangements and discussed necessary deterrence capabilities to sustain a lasting ceasefire.
At the weekend, President Donald Trump’s Envoy Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Ukrainian National Security Secretary Rustem Umerov and Chief of General Staff, Andriy Hnatov.
It was their sixth meeting over the past two weeks as they continued constructive talks on advancing a credible pathway toward a durable and just peace in Ukraine.
The participants deliberated on the outcome of the American side’s recent dialogue with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and steps that could lead to ending the conflict.
Umerov stressed Ukraine’s resolve to secure a settlement that protects its people, independence and sovereignty, and a solid foundation for a buoyant democratic future.
The group concurred that achieving any agreement depends on Russia’s “serious commitment” to long-term peace, including steps toward de-escalation and cessation of killings.
The meeting also reviewed the prosperity agenda, which aims to support Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction, long-term recovery projects, and joint U.S.–Ukraine economic initiatives.
Hope For Ukraine CEO, Yuriy Boyechko, says the U.S. peace plan, despite revisions from the initial draft, risks trading the war for a future defeat by echoing the mistake of the Khasavyurt Accord.
He said that the accord, which ended the First Chechen War in 1996, created an unstable de facto independence that Russia used to launch the Second Chechen War, crushing Chechen sovereignty.
Boyechko faults the current U.S. plan, which reportedly includes full amnesty for war crimes, territorial concessions such as recognizing Crimea and Donbas, and a prohibition on NATO membership.
“The proposal does not establish genuine peace; it codifies a state of perpetual vulnerability for Ukraine and grants the aggressor a strategic pause,” the humanitarian warns.
“By pressuring Kyiv to accept these concessions, the plan creates a peace of exhaustion that rewards the aggressor and permanently cripples Ukraine’s long-term security.”
Boyechko argues that a non-NATO Ukraine will inevitably harbor deep resentment, generating the instability and power vacuum that plagued Chechnya between 1996 and 1999.
He added that true peace requires justice, security, and respect for sovereignty, which are absent from a plan that could condemn Ukraine to the loss of its independence, as Khasavyurt did for Chechnya.
