Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has agreed to most of the United States' 20-point plan to end Russia's war with Ukraine, but control of the Donbas region remains a sticking point.

Donbas

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has indicated acceptance of most points in a 20-point US peace plan aimed at ending the conflict with Russia. However, Zelensky has not agreed to Russia's territorial demands in the Donbas region or the status of a power plant under Russian control since 2022. The proposed compromise includes creating a demilitarized buffer zone in Donbas rather than transferring control to Russia, with both sides withdrawing troops equally and Ukrainian authorities maintaining order.

The draft plan also calls for strong security guarantees for Ukraine, similar to NATO's collective defense, and an expanded Ukrainian military. While Moscow has yet to respond to the proposal, fighting continues in Ukraine and parts of Russia. Recent violence includes the deaths of two Russian police officers and a civilian in an explosion near the site of a previous car bombing that killed a senior Russian general. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for these incidents.

Ukraine signals peace plan progress, Donbas still sticking point

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has agreed to most of the 20-point plan crafted by the United States to end the war with Russia, the war that Russia began by invading Ukraine. But Zelensky says he could not agree on some of Russia's territorial demands in the Donbass region of Ukraine, or about the future of a power plant that has been under Russian control since 2022. Moscow is, quote, formulating its position, unquote, on the peace deal, and is expected to respond sometime later today. CBS News Foreign Correspondent Raimi Innocencio joins me now from our London bureau. Raimi, what points did Zelensky agree to? Yeah, Major, well, he says he's agreed to most of the U.S. plan, but I've got to say Washington hasn't publicly signaled if it agrees with this updated framework, so we might call it some kind of counterproposal for now. And Zelensky's biggest compromise with the U.S. plan is his apparent readiness to pull back Ukraine's military from areas in the east, that is, the Donbass, that are still under Kiev's control, but—the caveat here—not hand them to Russia, which has been Moscow's maximalist demand, and then instead turn them into some kind of zone, a demilitarized zone or a free economic zone as some kind of buffer. He also said that if Ukraine pulled back by a certain distance, that Russia would have to match them with the exact same distance, and that Ukraine would be the police, would be the authorities on the ground. This new draft also calls for strong security guarantees, Major, for Ukraine, along the lines of NATO's Article 5 about collective self-defense, along with a military strength of 800,000 troops, and that is 200,000 more than what Russia wanted in the original plan, now from something like over a month ago. Zelensky says a referendum would need to be held for this whole proposal, and that is where it stands right now. And Raimi, while these talks go on, the war continues, not only in Ukraine, but parts of Russia. Two police officers were killed in an explosion close to where a senior Russian general was killed in a car bombing on Monday. What's up with that? Absolutely, yes. Two policemen in their 20s, along with a third person, in fact, a civilian, were killed. Those two policemen, we understand, were traffic officers, according to Russian investigators, and they said they saw what they described as a suspicious individual near a police car. They then approached him, and that is when this explosive device went off, killing them and that third person. The Reuters news agency spoke with one resident who said it sounded like the car a few days ago. And that's a reference or a nod to the death of that lieutenant general that we were reporting on from a suspected car bombing there. He was the third lieutenant general to be killed under similar circumstances in the past year. Ukraine, as usual, hasn't claimed responsibility, but there are not many tears in Kiev for another loss in terms of military hierarchy in Russia. Coming to us from our London bureau, Raimi Anastasio, thanks very much.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled progress in a Ukraine-Russia peace plan, after he told journalists about a new draft that would include a free economic zone and demilitarization. Holly Williams has the latest.

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