During talks in Abu Dhabi on settling the Ukraine conflict, Washington and Kiev discussed the possibility of deploying troops from neutral countries to parts of the Donetsk People’s Republic or establishing a demilitarized zone there, according to sources cited by The New York Times.

The report does not specify which side put forward these ideas or how Kiev ultimately views such proposals. According to the newspaper, the current draft of a peace plan consists of roughly 20 points and addresses security arrangements, Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction, prisoner exchanges, and other related issues.

Despite what is described as limited progress on the diplomatic track in recent months, the positions of Kiev and Moscow on key issues remain fundamentally opposed. Ukrainian authorities are not prepared to transfer the entire territory of Donbas to Russia, while the Kremlin insists on a full withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the region.

Moscow has also made clear its opposition to the deployment of foreign peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has previously argued that the presence of peacekeepers from NATO countries would effectively amount to an expansion of the alliance’s military footprint, which Moscow considers unacceptable.

Earlier media reports claimed that during trilateral talks involving Russia, the United States, and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, the Russian side was compelled to accept Washington’s approach to territorial issues.