Washington (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said an agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict was “really close” and now depended on resolving two major outstanding problems: the future of Ukraine’s Donbas area and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The Russia-Ukraine war is the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II and has led to the largest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War’s most intense periods.
What unresolved issues are delaying a final Ukraine agreement?
Kellogg told the Reagan National Defence Forum that efforts to resolve the conflict are in “the last 10 metres,” which he said are always the most difficult. Kellogg stated that the two primary unresolved issues were territory, mainly regarding the Donbas, and the future of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
“If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well,”
Kellogg said on Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California.
“We’re almost there.”
“We’re really, really close,”
said Kellogg.
He described the extent of the death and injuries resulting from the Ukraine war as “horrific” and without precedent for a regional conflict. Kellogg stated that since the war started, Russia and Ukraine have incurred over 2 million casualties combined, including both dead and wounded.
However, neither country provides reliable estimates of their losses.
The US peace plan proposed last month alarmed Ukrainian and European officials, who argued it concedes to Moscow’s primary demands—NATO compliance, Russian control over a fifth of Ukraine, and limits on Ukraine’s military.
The Kremlin has divided those proposals into four separate components. The specific details are not publicly available.
What does the US peace proposal outline about the Donbas region?
According to uncofimed reports, the proposal outlines that Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk—collectively the Donbas region—would be recognised as de facto Russian territory by the United States and others.
Ukrainian forces would withdraw from the remaining areas of Donetsk under their control, converting them into a neutral demilitarised buffer zone internationally recognised as Russian territory, with no Russian troops allowed to enter.
This addresses partial Ukrainian holdings in the Donbas industrial belt along the frontline.
How would the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant operate under the plan?
Under the initial U.S. proposals, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, whose reactors are currently in cold shutdown, would be restarted under the oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency, with the generated electricity equally shared between Russia and Ukraine.
