Zelenskyy floats referendum over territory as US seeks deal

Olesia Safronova, Bloomberg News on Dec 11, 2025

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy floated the prospect of allowing Ukrainians to vote on whether to hand the Donbas region to Russia as Kyiv comes under mounting pressure to agree to terms of an emerging U.S. peace plan.

Moscow has insisted that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the eastern territories, which include areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that the Russian military has failed to capture in its nearly four-year invasion.

Zelenskyy has engaged in talks over the latest peace proposal from President Donald Trump’s administration, but has maintained his position that Ukraine won’t consider surrendering territory to the Kremlin.

“The Russians want the whole of Donbas — we don’t accept that,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday, referring to Ukraine’s eastern regions. “I believe that the Ukrainian people will answer this question. Whether in the form of elections or a referendum, the Ukrainian people must have a say.”

Ukrainian territory is at the center of running discussions among Washington, Kyiv and Moscow as negotiators inch toward a potential agreement to end the war. Zelenskyy said the U.S. has discussed turning the area into a “free economic zone,” while Russia has opted for a “demilitarized zone.”

“The Americans are searching for an appropriate format,” the president said. “Let’s see how this all plays out. Right now, I believe that a lot depends on our army.”

Zelenskyy said in a social media post on Thursday that he’d held a “constructive and in-depth discussion” on a document on security guarantees with American officials earlier that day, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.

He followed that post with a separate one on his meeting with partners in the so-called coalition of the willing of more than 30 countries.

“We are working to ensure that the security guarantees include serious components of European deterrence and are reliable, and it is important that the United States is with us and supports these efforts,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian allies will discuss the latest draft of a peace plan on Thursday after the leaders of Germany, France and the UK spoke with Trump on Wednesday. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was “relatively optimistic” about progress into the weekend as the sides sought a consensus over terms.

“Above all, it’s about the territorial concessions that Ukraine is ready to make — but that’s a question that the Ukrainian president and the Ukrainian people must answer,” Merz said in Berlin after meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “We made that clear to President Trump.”

Zelenskyy said his team is working on the draft of the 20-point peace framework daily. Ukrainian negotiators sent a revised plan to Washington late Wednesday. The draft isn’t the final version, Zelenskyy said.

“This plan is constantly being revised and edited. It is an ongoing process that continues now,” Zelenskyy said.

The president also expressed optimism that Ukraine and the U.S. would reach and sign an economic deal being discussed with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and BlackRock Inc.’s Larry Fink on postwar recovery and economic development.

Still, how the conflict eventually pans out is putting the continent increasingly on edge. Rutte warned on Thursday that Russia will come for the rest of Europe if its warmongering is not checked now.

“We need to be crystal-clear about the threat,” the military alliance leader said in a speech in Berlin. “We are Russia’s next target. And we are already in harm’s way.”

Rutte painted a stark picture of what’s at stake for the continent as Moscow continues to press its maximalist demands for territory and NATO restrictions in return for a vague promise to end its full-scale invasion.

“Russia has brought war back to Europe,” Rutte said. “And we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured.”

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