Ukraine disagrees about constitutional amendments in peace deal

Ukraine has drawn a firm, immovable line in the sand: its Constitution will not be rewritten as part of any peace settlement. This declaration, carried by local media on Wednesday, came from Oleksandr Bevz, adviser to the head of Ukraine’s presidential office and a member of Kyiv’s negotiation team engaged in complex talks with the United States, international partners, and Russia.

“We have stated clearly that Ukraine will not accept any form of recognition, nor will Ukraine make any changes to the Constitution — these are our red lines,” Bevz affirmed, underscoring Kyiv’s unwavering stance as diplomatic manoeuvring intensifies.

He added that any discussion on territorial matters must rest on two core principles: the current contact line should serve as the foundation for negotiations, and such weighty issues must be decided directly by national leaders — not by emissaries or working groups.

Meanwhile, Andriy Yermak, the influential head of the presidential office, revealed that Ukrainian and American negotiators have achieved agreement in principle on most provisions of Washington’s proposed peace plan. The framework, he noted, has undergone a dramatic transformation — reduced from a sprawling 28-point draft to a leaner 19-point proposal, hammered out jointly by the US and Ukraine during a Sunday meeting in Geneva.

On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled cautious optimism, describing the revised peace blueprint as a foundation capable of growing into “deeper agreements”. He said he had conferred with Ukraine’s negotiation team and emphasised that “the principles in this document can be developed further. And it is in our shared interest that security becomes real.”

Zelenskyy also expressed hope for continued energetic cooperation with Washington.

Adding a dramatic layer to the unfolding diplomatic choreography, Yermak said Zelenskyy hopes to discuss the thorniest issue of all — territory — directly with former US President Donald Trump, who has thrust himself into the center of the mediation effort.

Trump himself announced on Truth Social that his team had made “tremendous progress” in recent days. He claimed that the peace plan had been “fine-tuned, with additional input from both sides,” leaving “only a few remaining points of disagreement.”

In a significant move, Trump has dispatched his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Moscow next week to meet President Vladimir Putin in a bid to iron out the final contours of the deal. Simultaneously, US secretary of the army Dan Driscoll will hold parallel talks with Ukrainian officials.

Trump added that he hopes to meet both Putin and Zelenskyy himself — but only once a peace deal is either completed or nearing completion. And despite earlier pressure for rapid agreement, he stepped back from imposing a strict deadline. “The deadline for me is when it’s over,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, en route to Florida for Thanksgiving.

He also hinted that Moscow had offered certain concessions, though he declined to reveal their nature.

With IANS inputs