“The Americans are in a big hurry”: the U.S. is pushing for a peace agreement and swift elections in Ukraine, – Reuters

The United States is aiming to reach a peace agreement with Russia as early as March and to hold elections in Ukraine as soon as possible.

This is reported by the international news agency Reuters, citing sources.

According to Reuters’ anonymous interlocutors, U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators are pursuing an ambitious goal: for Moscow and Kyiv to reach a peace settlement by the end of March. However, Reuters’ sources believe these deadlines will likely slip because there is still no agreement on the key issue of control over Donetsk region and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

At the same time, under a framework being discussed in U.S.–Ukraine talks, any agreement with Russia would be put to a referendum of Ukrainian voters, to be held at the same time as nationwide elections.

Sources say the U.S. negotiating team—led by President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner—told their Ukrainian counterparts at recent meetings in Abu Dhabi and Miami that it would be better if the vote took place soon.

According to two sources, the U.S. negotiators said that Trump will likely focus on domestic U.S. issues in the near future as the November midterm elections for Congress approach. This means senior U.S. officials will have less time and less political capital to devote to settling the Russia–Ukraine conflict—so a peace deal needs to be concluded quickly.

Reuters reports that U.S. and Ukrainian officials discussed the possibility of holding national elections and a referendum in May. However, several Reuters sources familiar with the negotiations called the White House’s proposed “timeline” unrealistic.

“The Americans are in a big hurry,” one source familiar with the situation said, adding that organizing a vote in Ukraine could be done in less than six months, but it would still take a significant amount of time.

At the same time, any agreements remain highly uncertain, since there is still no consensus on the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donetsk region—something Moscow demands and Kyiv opposes.

There is also no agreement on control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. According to sources, Moscow does not accept the U.S. proposal to transfer control of the plant to the United States. The Kremlin insists that the plant should remain under Russian control as it is now, but that Russia would share the electricity generated there with Ukraine. Kyiv does not accept this condition.

As a reminder, members of Ukraine’s parliament have said that elections in Ukraine will not be held during wartime.