Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. [AP]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. [AP]

Ukraine proposed establishing a free economic zone in the front-line Donbas region as part of a truce plan, but Russia rejected the offer, Reuters reported Tuesday (local time).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press briefing last weekend that he had drawn up a several-page truce proposal to present to Russia. The plan consists of three parts: a truce, the creation of a free economic zone, and defined roles for the EU and NATO.

"This concept contains ideas on a ceasefire — that is the core of it," Zelensky said. "The second part concerns the establishment of a free economic zone, as proposed by the United States." He added that the three ideas were not Ukraine's alone, saying they had been "developed jointly with the United States and Europe."

During peace negotiations last December, Russia demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the Donbas — including the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk that Russia occupies — and cede the entire area to Russia.

Ukraine, which controls parts of Donetsk, wanted to halt fighting along the current front lines. With the two sides at an impasse, the United States, which had been mediating the talks, put forward a proposal to create a demilitarized zone and a free economic zone in Donetsk.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, responding to questions about the possibility of a US-led free economic zone, said Tuesday that "Donbas is a territory and constituent part of the Russian Federation," adding that "the likelihood of a third party controlling Russian territory is very low," according to the Tass news agency.

Russia also plans to hold general elections in September for the first time in Donbas and the Novorossiya region along the Black Sea coast — territories it seized from Ukraine and subsequently annexed — in a move to consolidate its effective control over the areas.


yg@heraldcorp.com