US envoy says deal to end Russia-Ukraine conflict 'really close', hinges on Donbas and Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

 New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) : Important information has emerged regarding the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Outgoing US Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg has indicated that discussions toward a resolution to the long-running conflict have reached a decisive stage. According to him, a potential agreement to end the war is “really close now.”

Kellogg explained that negotiations are currently underway on two key issues—the future of the Donbas region and the status of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest, currently under Russian control. He clarified that these two territorial disputes are the final obstacles to the peace process.

Last month, a 28-point preliminary US peace proposal was leaked, causing widespread consternation among Ukrainian and European officials. They argued that the draft yielded almost entirely to Moscow's main demands: a complete blockade of Ukraine's membership in NATO, recognition of Russia's occupation of about one-fifth of Ukraine, and strict restrictions on the size and weapons of the Ukrainian army.

According to the Kremlin, the proposal now consists of 27 points and is divided into four separate parts; its exact contents have not yet been made public. According to a leaked initial US draft, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (all of whose reactors are currently shut down) would be restarted under IAEA supervision, and the electricity generated there would be divided equally between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia currently occupies 19.2% of Ukraine's total territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, all of Luhansk, and over 80% of Donetsk. It also includes about 75% of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as well as parts of Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, following an eight-year conflict in Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk) between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces that had been ongoing since 2014.