Volodymyr Zelensky has used talks in Berlin with Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz to float a rewritten peace framework for Ukraine. The emerging proposal, reportedly shaped with indirect input from Vladimir Putin through Yuri Ushakov and outside experts like Erik Melander, would trade Kyiv’s NATO ambitions for binding Western security guarantees and a freeze of current front lines in Donetsk and Lugansk. According to reports including The Wall Street Journal, Washington is cautiously encouraged by ideas such as a Ukrainian referendum on possible territorial concessions, even as figures like Paolo Gentiloni warn that such pressure risks forcing European countries to choose between endorsing what critics call capitulation and escalating support to push Putin toward a more durable peace.