Peace in Ukraine? The issues on the table

As US-sponsored talks continue aimed at securing peace in Ukraine, AFP takes a look at the main issues on the table since efforts started two months ago.

While Ukraine has agreed to a plan from Washington for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia, Moscow has rejected it and has raised the stakes, mindful that President Donald Trump is impatient to get his "deal".

- Territory -

Ukraine is demanding a return to the borders which were internationally recognised after 1991 when the Soviet Union broke up.

It wants Russia to give up the five Ukrainian regions it has annexed: Crimea, in 2014, and Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the east and south after the war started in 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had floated trading several hundred square kilometres of territory occupied by its troops in Russia's western Kursk region, but Russia took back much of this territory in an offensive this month.

However Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking maximum gains: he wants Ukraine to surrender, Zelensky to go and total control of the five annexed regions. This month he urged troops to reclaim the entire Kursk region.

Washington, which has said that a return to the pre-2014 borders is unrealistic, seems to be working towards an accord based on the current frontline.

- Guarantee of peace -

Kyiv is demanding a "just peace" and security guarantees from Europe and the United States, to prevent another Russian attack.

Zelensky in late January asked for at least 200,000 European soldiers.

Washington has ruled out any deployment of its troops and is angling for an economic accord.

The United Nations said on March 25 the prospect of deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine under its mandate is "very hypothetical" at this stage.

Two days later, the idea of possibly deploying military forces of a so-called "coalition of the willing" involving some 30 EU and NATO countries was raised.

However, Russia, which sees NATO forces as an existential threat, says it cannot accept the alliance's soldiers being based in Ukraine.

Since its 2022 invasion, Putin has been pushing for an end to western aid to Ukraine and for a "demilitarisation" of the country.

- NATO membership -

Russia has long been steadfastly opposed to Ukrainian membership in NATO and has made this a precondition of peace talks.

Ukraine, however, says NATO membership is necessary to guarantee its security, a position until recently supported within the military alliance.

But in February the administration of Trump, a fierce NATO critic, said Ukraine's membership aspiration is unrealistic.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, however, said Ukraine is on an "irreversible path to NATO".

- Energy infrastructure -

On March 25, the White House said both Kyiv and Moscow agreed separately to "develop measures for implementing" a halt on strikes on energy infrastructure.

Refineries, gas pipelines and power stations would be covered by the truce, Zelensky said after talks in Riyadh between Moscow and Washington.

Russian troops have for three years ravaged the Ukrainian energy system, regularly plunging civilians into the cold and dark. Ukraine has hit back with drone attacks on Russian oil terminals.

Trump has suggested the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, currently occupied by Russian troops, should come under American control.

Zelensky has opposed the idea and there is no sign that Putin will agree to hand over the plant.

- Black Sea -

The Black Sea was at the centre of negotiations on March 25, when Moscow and Kyiv talked about stopping hostilities there.

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has regularly bombed port infrastructures and Ukrainian vessels. Ukraine, which has no navy, has managed to maintain a corridor for its grain exports and has sunk Russian warships with missiles and sea-borne drones.

Moscow has conditioned the ceasefire on the lifting of western sanctions on Russian exports, but has not proposed something in return.

The EU has ruled out lifting its sanctions before an "unconditional" withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

Washington has said it is ready to help Russia export its farm produce and fertiliser to world markets.

Zelensky complained the idea had been raised unexpectedly by Washington.

- Ukrainian minerals -

Access to Ukraine's mineral wealth became a major card in the negotiations on February 3, when Trump demanded access to 50 percent of its strategic minerals in payment for aid the US had already given.

His vice president J.D. Vance insists an economic accord would be a better security guarantee than troops, and Russia says it is in favour of American investment in the conquered Ukrainian regions.

Before signing, Ukraine has demanded "security guarantees", with Zelensky saying he will not "sell" Ukraine, but prefers a partnership.

A first American proposal flops in mid-February, and another attempt on February 28 ends in an historic clash at the White House between Zelensky and Trump.

Zelensky said March 28 he had received another proposal, which he will review.