AS this year draws to a conclusion and all the work being done with the conflict….is there any hope of some sort of deal before Christmas….a Christmas miracle if you will.

Some say we are closing in on a deal….but how many times have we heard that particular piece of manure?

Ukrainian officials made significant changes to a US-drafted peace deal during negotiations with their US counterparts in Geneva on Sunday, The Guardian has reported.

The original 28-point plan leaked to the media was substantially altered during the talks, led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the US side and Andriy Yermak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the Ukrainian side, and was reduced to 19 points.

“As of now, after Geneva, there are fewer points, no longer 28, and many correct elements have been incorporated into this framework,” Zelensky said on Monday.

It’s unclear exactly what changes were made to the plan, but the main objections from Ukrainian officials and their European backers were the provisions requiring Ukraine to cede territory it controls in the Donbas to Russia and the guarantees that Ukraine won’t ever join NATO.

According to a report from the Financial Times, the US and Ukrainian officials left the most sensitive details, including territorial lines and Ukraine’s relationship with NATO, to be decided by Zelensky and President Trump, who are expected to meet soon.

(antiwar.com)

Ukraine will head to DC to meet with what-his-name soon…..according to reports….

It looks like a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war is genuinely close—at least on Ukraine’s end. CBS News and the BBC report that Ukraine has agreed in principle to a US-brokered peace deal after lengthy talks. The development comes after the US and Ukraine “significantly changed” the original 28-point plan, which was widely seen as favorable to Russia, per the Washington Post. The question now is whether Moscow will accept the new terms. No details were released on the latest version of the peace plan, particularly on the thorniest issue of all: territorial concessions.

However, “many of the controversial provisions were either softened or at least reshaped,” Oleksandr Bevz, part of the Ukrainian team, tells the Post. A US official tells CBS that “there are some minor details to be sorted out, but they have agreed to a peace deal,” referring to Ukraine. Meanwhile, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is reportedly in Abu Dhabi to meet with Russian officials about the deal.

Of course his majesty has to weigh in…..

President Trump announced Tuesday that his administration has made significant progress toward a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, with only “a few remaining points of disagreement” to be resolved. Trump said he has dispatched special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll will meet separately with Ukrainian officials, CNN reports. Trump indicated he may meet with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but only when a deal is nearly finalized.

• “I will be briefed on all progress made, along with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “I look forward to hopefully meeting with President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages.”

Trump highlighted the progress on a US-drafted 28-point peace plan, which he said has been “fine-tuned, with additional input from both sides.” “I think we’re getting very close to a deal. We’ll find out,” Trump said during the White House turkey pardon on Tuesday, per the AP. “I thought that would have been an easier one, but I think we’re making progress,” he said. One key sticking point appears to be Ukraine’s potential NATO membership, a demand the initial proposal asked Ukraine to abandon.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told CNN that Ukraine may need to signal it won’t seek NATO membership for now but warned that peace should not come “through surrender.” He said Ukraine will join the European Union instead, “which probably makes more sense at this point.” Ukrainian officials have called the NATO demand unacceptable, though Panetta believes a workable compromise is possible.

• Zelensky, for his part, said his country’s negotiating team is making progress but that Russia’s war against Ukraine continues. “Every day, Russia kills our people on the front lines and attacks our cities and energy infrastructure,” he said in a post on X after at least seven people were killed in strikes on Kyiv.
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron echoed concerns about Russia’s intentions, with Macron accusing Moscow of “pretending it wanted peace” while continuing attacks.
• Russia, meanwhile, signaled that it might resist changes to the plan, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying it would be a “fundamentally different situation” if the changes “erased” the agreements made during Trump’s summit with Putin in Alaska, New York Times reports.

I hope that they are truly finding a path to end this conflict….but we have heard too many times that a deal was close…..so please forgive me if I await a signed deal before I give anyone an ‘ata boy’….

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”