This week is the deadline for Ukraine's future: what options does Zelensky have?

MoscowThe key for Volodymyr Zelensky is to stop the countdown.Donald Trump has given him a week to accept his peace plan for Ukrainecut the correct cable and defuse the explosion. Faced with the dilemma of losing an almost existential partner or surrendering a significant portion of the country's sovereignty, the Ukrainian president is looking for ways to buy time. According to his calculations, it's a matter ofopen to discussing the document, avoid a clash like the one at the end of February in the Oval Office And, with the help of European allies, to counterattack with a rewrite of the agreement that is not only more beneficial to Kyiv, but also forces Vladimir Putin to reject it.

"If things work well, there's a tendency to extend the deadlines," the US president said on Friday, in words that offered a glimmer of hope after the grim and fateful speech in Zelensky's nationAfter all, the situation is not new to him. The pressure campaign that followed the engagement with the White House to get Ukraine to sign a pact with the United States for the extraction of rare earth minerals It's similar and even offers reasons for optimism. Then, the White House also threatened to cut off aid and military intelligence to Kiiv if it didn't endorse a very unfavorable deal. And, finally, the text of the agreement, which no one makes a fuss about or even remembers anymore, ended up being much more reasonable.

Rewrite the plan

Until next Thursday, Ukrainian representatives will hold meetings with European and American officials to try to draft a counterproposal to the peace plan. The challenge for the allies is how to rewrite much of the document while ensuring Trump perceives it as merely constructive updates. According to some diplomats, Ukraine should start with the points that benefit it, even if their wording is confusing, vague, or difficult to implement. Negotiators could make linguistic corrections to make them more palatable to Kyiv while simultaneously binding Moscow, leaving it no room for future breaches. For example, in the section on security guarantees, which simply states the commitment for Ukraine to have "reliable" security, the aim would be to stipulate how these guarantees are structured to deter Russia from launching another invasion and to secure the support of Kyiv, Washington, and Russia. Or, in the case of the 600,000-troop limit for the Ukrainian army, the allies could demand in return some kind of restriction from Moscow on the use of certain weapons. Much more delicate are the points that clearly benefit Putin, especially those that force Ukraine to relinquish Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, and the parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson under Russian occupation. Here, European leaders have already made it clear that they support freezing the border at the current line of contact, a position that Trump had also come to defend. The Russian president is convinced that he can obtain Donbas by force and never tires of repeating it, while the American leader also believes that Ukraine will ultimately lose the region.

However, Zelensky is aware that it will cost Russia tens of thousands of men and probably years to conquer the last strongholds of Donetsk, and that if he cedes them now, Putin will get away with it for free. Furthermore, another significant linguistic nuance that the Ukrainian side can exploit is the concept ofde facto" either "de jure"Applied to the international recognition of the occupied territories. A practical, not legal, recognition of Russian sovereignty over these provinces would make their loss to Ukraine not irreversible. Forcing Putin to walk away from the table

Although the sword of Damocles hangs over Zelensky's head, Putin is also reluctant to rush to bless the agreement. The Kremlin is stalling because it dislikes many of the conditions and wants to discuss them calmly, while continuing to relentlessly pursue the front lines. The strategy resembles that used by Moscow so far in response to each of Trump's ultimatums: not to reject it outright, to be open to discussion, and to convince the US president that Kyiv is the obstacle to peace.

Negotiations over the US plan could turn into an exchange of lanternsEach side will try to establish its red lines so that the other will walk away from the table over an unacceptable compromise and appear as the saboteur in the eyes of the White House. After all, Putin and Zelensky agree on one point: between a bad deal and continuing the war, both will choose the latter. The crux of the matter is which side Trump will ultimately take.