What is the purpose of the new US peace plan to end Russia's war against Ukraine? Washington probably wants to test the Ukrainians and their partners to see what concessions they are ready to make, some observers believe.
Ukraine is ready for negotiations with Russia - including at the level of heads of state. But there is no question of an official renunciation of the territories occupied by Russia. The statement was made by Ukraine's deputy ambassador to the UN, Kristina Hayovyshyn. "Our red lines are clear and unwavering. We will never recognize - either officially or otherwise - the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories by Russia as Russian."
This was her reaction to the "peace plan" to end Russia's war in Ukraine, which, according to US media, has been approved by President Donald Trump. The plan, which consists of 28 points, is believed to have been agreed upon in secret talks between US special representative Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev. Among other things, the document envisages the transfer of the entire Donbas region to Russia, including those parts of it that are not under Russian control. In addition, Ukraine must hand over a lot of weapons, reduce its army by half and introduce Russian as a second language.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian presidency confirmed that Volodymyr Zelensky had received the draft of the "peace plan" from the US. He planned to discuss it with President Donald Trump in the coming days.
Olexander Krayev, an expert on North America at the think tank "Ukrainian Prism", says that the Ukrainian presidency has taken over all communication with Washington and is waiting for the official position of the US government on the exact content of the plan. "It is not entirely clear whether this plan really comes from the White House, whether it was developed by Witkoff and ultimately supported by Trump, or whether it was prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." The attitude towards Trump and the US was "quite delicate", the expert points out, according to whom one wrong word or wrong statement from Ukraine could provoke a sharp negative reaction on the other side of the ocean.
"Plan for the surrender of Ukraine"
Ukrainian opposition politicians point out that the proposals disseminated by the media contain elements that seem to reflect Russian demands without restrictions: officially consolidating the Russian occupation in Eastern Ukraine, significantly reducing the Ukrainian army, obliging the country to observe neutrality without real security guarantees, prohibiting the free choice of joining alliances, as well as destroying Ukrainian identity.
Olexy Honcharenko, a deputy from the opposition "European Solidarity" faction and Ukraine's representative in the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe, sharply criticizes the US government's plan. "The most important guarantee for Ukraine, as for any other country, is its own armed forces. Russia wants to weaken our army so that it can completely destroy Ukraine in the next attack," he told DW. The oppositionist emphasizes that some things are absolutely unacceptable for Ukrainian society.
Arseny Yatsenyuk, who was Prime Minister of Ukraine from 2014 to 2016 and is currently the head of the Kiev Security Forum, does not consider the joint "peace plan" of Russia and the United States to be anything more than what Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed at their meeting in Alaska in August. "None of what is now being presented as a new peace plan has anything to do with peace. This is a plan for the gradual surrender of Ukraine. All these points in this so-called "peace plan" are nothing more than Putin's position, which he expressed four years ago," Yatsenyuk said.
How are Ukraine and Europe reacting?
Observers in Ukraine believe that the announcement of this "peace plan" may be aimed solely at sounding out opinions in Ukrainian society. "Obviously, its launch in the media is a test to see how tired Ukrainians are of the war and how ready they are to submit," wrote Irina Herashchenko, deputy chairwoman of the opposition parliamentary faction "European Solidarity", on Facebook.
Olexander Kraev also suggests that the American president and his entourage want to test the Ukrainian public and Ukraine's international partners to determine what concessions they are ready to make. "I don't know whether in the event of strong resistance the Americans will really put their relations with the Europeans at risk", Kraev told DW. The main problem with the "peace plan", according to him, is that it does not fulfill the main task formulated by Trump himself - the establishment of a ceasefire.
What goals are pursued with the "peace plan"?
Former Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Valery Chaly does not believe that in the case of the "peace plan" these are final proposals. "If this was Trump's final plan, he should have at least informed the deputies of Congress and the important European capitals, which obviously did not happen. Therefore - do not panic, at the moment it is a matter of the "Dmitriev-Witkoff" plan, which has no chance of being implemented for now," Chaliy wrote on Facebook. His opinion is that through the latest proposals the US wants to outline the framework for future compromises.
Entrepreneur Valery Pekar is convinced that, along with military pressure on the front, one of Russia's goals is the destabilization of Ukrainian society. "Peace plans" are presented in order to have a psychological impact on the people of Ukraine and to weaken them." In addition, Pekar emphasizes: "Any plan and all negotiations will fail if Europe does not participate. This position is also supported by the US, which wants to shift all responsibility for its own security to Europe. A defeat of Ukraine would not bring any political benefits to Trump, rather the opposite."