Pellegrini: Trump's Plan a Major First Step in Right Direction

Bratislava, 24 November (TASR) – President Peter Pellegrini considers US President Donald Trump's peace plan to end the war in Ukraine to be the first, yet also a major step in the right direction, but much work still needs to be done, and the most important task now is to reach a genuine agreement between Ukraine and Russia, according to the Slovak head of state's post on the social network X. In the post published in English, Pellegrini praised the US President and his team, who he said have been working tirelessly to achieve peace in Ukraine. The 28-point plan, whose full wording was released by the media this week, is, in Pellegrini's view, a very strong and very serious first step. "Many people say it is the most realistic plan so far. Of course, there is still a lot of work ahead – as always – but it is a big step in the right direction. The most important thing now is to reach a genuine agreement between Ukraine and Russia, strongly supported by the USA, the EU, NATO and all key international partners. This is how results are achieved," the Slovak President wrote. The published version of the US proposal to end the war, which Russia launched with its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, foresees, among other points, that Ukraine would cede the entire Donbas to Russia, commit to limiting its armed forces to a maximum of 600,000 personnel, and pledge never to join NATO. Talks between representatives of the United States, Ukraine and European states were held in Geneva on Sunday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who took part in the negotiations, said that enormous progress had been achieved. According to him, a basic document was drafted and the number of disputed issues narrowed. Among the open questions are, for example, the future role of the EU and NATO and security guarantees. A member of the Ukrainian delegation, National Security and Defence Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, said earlier that the latest version of the US proposal now includes most of Kiev's "key priorities". mf