Ukraine peace talks (November 2025 to March 2026)

Since mid-November 2025, there has been a renewed diplomatic push to secure a peace agreement in Ukraine.

Fresh rounds of talks were prompted by reports that US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart, Kirill Dmitriev, had been working on a 28-point peace plan. As part of this US–Russia plan:

• Ukraine’s armed forces would be capped
• Ukraine would amend its constitution to commit to not joining NATO
• No NATO troops would be deployed in Ukraine
• Russian sovereignty over the annexed regions of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk would be recognised
• Ukrainian elections would be held within 100 days
• Sanctions against Russia would be lifted and it would be invited to re-join the G8 group of nations
• Ukraine would receive “reliable security guarantees”

Many of the proposals outlined in the plan are not new. They prompted concern among Ukraine and its European allies that the plan was overly favourable to Russia and that it reiterated Russia’s maximalist demands for resolving the conflict, including the ceding of territory.

Following talks in Geneva between the US, Ukraine and European allies on 23 and 24 November 2025, a new deal was reported to be on the table. Details of that revised plan have not been made public, but it is thought to be based on European counterproposals that limit Russian gains.

Diplomacy has been moving fast, and further talks have taken place. After talks with President Trump at the end of December 2025, President Zelenskyy said that 90% of a potential peace deal had been agreed. The issue of ceding territory to Russia, which is a clear demand of the Kremlin, remains, however, a major sticking point in negotiations. Russia, for its part, continues to show little willingness to compromise.

Three rounds of talks between US, Ukrainian and Russian officials, held in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland in late January/ February 2026, did not achieve a breakthrough. Further talks in the United Arab Emirates, scheduled for early March 2026, have been postponed because of US/Israeli military action against Iran.

This briefing sets out the latest positions of the main actors and provides a list of recommended reading for the latest analysis. It will be updated as the issue develops.