Zelensky presents three-point plan to end the war: truce, free zone, withdrawal

This morning the newspaper led with the dispute between the Ukrainian president and former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov over elections in wartime. In the afternoon the day has another focus: Volodymyr Zelensky has outlined to journalists a plan to end the conflict, drawn up — he says — together with the United States and European partners.

There are three points. A ceasefire. The creation of a free economic zone. The withdrawal of troops from the front line. This is the framework reported by the Ukrainian agency Ukrinform and picked up by ANSA, Quotidiano Nazionale and Adn24. All three reports stem from the same press encounter and the same agency: as things stand, there is no public document on the plan’s content, nor any version supplied by the other parties.

What the free zone would be

This is the least intuitive of the three points, and also the one on which the Ukrainian president dwelt longest. According to his description, Kyiv and Moscow would take symmetrical steps back from current positions, and the strip of territory thus freed would be entrusted to the administration of a third party, not yet identified. The mechanism combines two functions that are usually kept separate: military separation between the armies and a special economic regime for the interposed area.

“In my view there is something realistic in all this” — Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine

Zelensky linked the plan to talks that, in his account, involved Americans, Ukrainians and Russians, and named Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff as the interlocutors with whom the text was worked out. He added that the American side has other ideas and is looking for the right moment to make them known: a formula that describes an open negotiation, not an agreement reached.

What is missing

The Russian side is missing. In the sources available today there is no reaction from Moscow to the plan, nor any US confirmation of its existence in the terms described by Kyiv. The third party that should administer the free zone is missing — no name, no organisation. A timetable is missing. And, as always at this stage, missing is the distinction between what has been negotiated and what has been proposed: the only voice speaking, for now, is Ukraine’s.

Kyiv, the day of the anniversary

The plan was outlined on the eve of a symbolic date. Today, 24 August 2026, Ukraine marks the 35th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union, and the heads of state and government of the NB8 Nordic-Baltic format have arrived in the capital, with the declared aim of shaping the autumn aid campaign.

The visit produced the day’s only commitment with a defined industrial content. With Finnish President Alexander Stubb, agreements were signed covering the development and production of drones in Finland, the expansion of capabilities in unmanned naval systems, and the establishment of a company dedicated to ground drones. It is a precise direction: not supplies of already-produced equipment, but production capacity located on European Union territory.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen took part in the celebrations, announcing further military aid, without the available sources specifying its scale. From Berlin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz paid tribute to the courage of Ukrainians on the anniversary, according to ZDF’s newscast.

The day’s two pieces of news should be read for what they are, and they are of a different nature. The Finnish agreements are signed acts, with subject matter and counterparts. The three-point plan is, for now, the account that one of the warring parties has given to journalists of a negotiation about which the other parties have published nothing.