KYIV, Ukraine—President Volodymyr Zelensky, with the help of his European allies, has carefully crafted a response to President Trump’s peace plan that essentially boils down to: Yes, but…
Zelensky is prepared to hold elections, but would need a cease-fire. He says Russia can maintain some involvement in Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which it currently occupies, but Ukraine and the U.S. should be in control. The size of Ukraine’s military can be capped, he concedes, but at its current size.
The approach has enabled Zelensky to get on board with Trump’s vision of peace—but not at the expense of political credibility at home.
“We do not betray our country, do not surrender our independence, which is important, but we are constructive,” Zelensky told reporters Thursday.
Zelensky’s negotiating hand was strengthened this week by a successful Ukrainian counterattack in the city of Kupyansk, which Russia said it had captured last month. “All our strong positions within the country translate into strong positions in the negotiations to end the war,” Zelensky said Friday during a visit to the embattled city.
This weekend presents Zelensky an opportunity to set out his case to Washington in person when he meets U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Berlin.
How the Ukrainian leader handles Trump’s demand for a quick peace will be a pivot point in Kyiv’s efforts to get an end to the war without bargaining away its sovereignty. The challenge for Zelensky has been that the 28-point plan first proposed by the U.S. in late November was created with Russian input.
The document contained land mines for Zelensky—such as barring Ukraine from NATO, insisting on elections within 100 days and demanding Ukraine withdraw from some parts of its territory that Russia hasn’t captured.
In the past week in talks with European leaders, Zelensky has rewritten the plan to make it acceptable to Ukraine without rejecting it in a way that would alienate Trump.
Addressing one of the thorniest issues, territorial control of Ukrainian-held parts of the Donetsk region, Zelensky emphasized the need for monitoring and fairness in the U.S.-led search for an end to the war.
The U.S.-backed proposal suggests turning the area into a “free economic zone,” or “demilitarized zone,” from which Ukraine would withdraw and the Russian military would be barred.
Instead of ruling that out completely, Zelensky asked for more detail. For instance, if Ukraine pulls back, what would deter Russian forces from advancing? Or what prevents Moscow from infiltrating the zone under the guise of civilians to control it?
“It is not a given that we as Ukraine will accept this, but when you speak to us about compromise, then the compromise you propose must be a fair one,” Zelensky told reporters on Thursday.
Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and one of the lead negotiators for the Kremlin in the peace talks, said Friday that Russian police and the Kremlin’s national guard would likely be deployed on the territories. In an echo of earlier comments from Putin, he said Moscow would control the area through negotiations or by force.
Zelensky has employed his “yes, but…” negotiating tactic in the past. When pressed by the Trump administration to do a deal to grant the U.S. access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, Kyiv won more favorable terms by resisting the demand to sign up right away.
“We respect you very much, but we cannot just sign it, because we have restrictions” has become a familiar refrain of Ukraine’s negotiators, said Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko.
Russia’s response to new versions of the peace plan is more blunt, he added. The Kremlin, which relies on its slow advances on the battlefield, sticks to its core demands no matter what, Fesenko said.
Putin has said some parts of the U.S. proposal aren’t acceptable and that any peace agreement must address what he calls the war’s “root causes,” Moscow’s shorthand for Kyiv’s Western tilt and the eastern expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The Kremlin repeatedly calls into question the legitimacy of Ukraine’s government, and Zelensky in particular, to explain its hesitation in engaging directly with Kyiv in the peace process.
Russia has zeroed in on the lack of elections in Ukraine since Zelensky came to power in 2019 to dismiss him as an illegitimate leader with whom it cannot negotiate. Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia’s full-scale invasion, preventing it from holding elections.
But Zelensky, presented with a call for elections in the peace plan, has taken a pragmatic path. This week, he said he was ready to hold the vote, but only if parliament presented a legal pathway and partners—most of all the U.S.—ensured a cease-fire during elections.
“We think here in Ukraine that America should speak to the Russian side about this,” Zelensky told a group of European allies on Thursday. Hours earlier, he had said that the U.S. and Ukraine believed that Russia wouldn’t agree to a cease-fire before a peace agreement is reached.
Lack of clarity in the proposal about how the U.S. plans to demilitarize Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and create a consortium to jointly manage the facility has also provided room for Zelensky to reshape the terms.
Ukraine opposes putting the Zaporizhzhia plant under Russian control, Zelensky said. But, if the deal involved the U.S. in the management, details of a joint operation at the plant would need to be worked out, he added.
Fesenko, the analyst, said Zelensky’s method of pressing partners on specifics, including about the mechanics of the implementation of the stickiest points, has allowed him to continue constructive conversations without folding on key issues.
“We simply need to psychologically withstand this pressure, pause briefly, and say that we are ready to discuss,” Fesenko said. “And then let’s sit down and discuss each specific point.”
Write to Anastasiia Malenko at anastasiia.malenko@wsj.com