Name: What's in Ukraine's newly proposed 20-point peace plan and how might Russia react to it? | DW News
Uploaded: 2025-12-25T16:58:16.000Z
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And as the fighting rages on in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has outlined a draft 20 point peace proposal agreed by Ukraine and the United States.

Zelenskyy says the proposal could become the basis of future agreements to end the war with Russia.

Let's take a look at the proposal's main points.

The first, that Ukraine's sovereignty will be reaffirmed.

Russia and Ukraine will sign a non aggression agreement.

The US, NATO and European countries will provide UKRA security guarantees that mirror Article 5 of NATO's mutual defence clause.

Ukraine will maintain its armed forces at their present strength of 800,000 personnel.

However, there was no agreement between Ukraine and the US on one major issue and that is of territorial arrangements between Ukraine and Russia.

For more on this we can speak to Andres Ruts.

He's a Russia analyst with the German Council on Foreign Relations and joins me today from Budapest.

Now, just tell us, what's your assessment of this latest version of the plan?

Is it a breakthrough or is it another list of talking points?

I think the most important part of the plan that right now, finally, Ukrainian and US demands are coordinated.

This is a joint proposal and it's not only Ukraine and the us, but

it was joined also by several European countries as well.

So so far this is the best and most detailed proposal that more or less united west, unified west can give to Ukraine.

And now of course, everyone is waiting for Russia's reaction.

The US and Ukraine didn't come to an agreement about a big sticking point though between Kyiv and Moscow, and

that is the issue of territorial concessions.

Do you think Ukraine would ever be willing to give up land to secure a peace deal?

See, when it comes to the absence of an agreement on key questions, this is how diplomacy works.

Every lasting ceasefire agreement in history has been forged in the same way.

First, let's agree on the easiest questions and thereafter proceed towards the more complicated ones.

Russia's key demand is that Ukraine would cede the rest of the Donbas.

This is not something that President Zelenskyy could do either constitutionally or actually politically.

However, this particular proposal outlines two basic scenarios for how to settle the question of the line of contact in the Donbas.

Option number one, that's Ukraine's Plan A, is to stop the front line where it is.

So the front line would be transformed to some kind of a contact line, meaning no more territory ceded, no more, however, no territory returned either.

There is kind of a Plan B, a US Proposal, transforming the line of contact into some kind of an economic free economic zone.

still for Ukraine, freezing the frontline where it is, would actually be already good enough.

And there is actually one more point of the agreement which is not settled yet, namely the status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the territories adjacent to it.

Because the power plant is right now defunct and the sides need to agree about how to manage it, how to restore it, and

once restored, how to share the electricity generated.

Okay, you were talking a bit earlier about how encouraging it was that this is a joint proposal from the US And Ukraine and various other European countries.

How do you think Russia is going to react to this latest proposal?

Unfortunately, I'm pessimistic, I have to say.

Russia demonstrated no willingness even for a Christmas truce, some kind of a Christmas ceasefire.

Actually, right ahead of Christmas, Russia launched a particularly intensive air attack against Ukraine's energy infrastructure and openly refused Ukraine's Christmas ceasefire proposal.

So what I expect to happen, or what I'm afraid of happening, that Russia will not reject the proposal because that may induce further US Sanctions.

Instead, Russia is likely to ask for further details, further negotiations, further clarifications.

So instead of agreeing to the proposal, Russia would play on winning time and while winning time, keep advancing militarily both in eastern and southern Ukraine.

So unfortunately, I'm pessimistic about the perspective of, of a quick resolution of the conflict.

We've been speaking with Andra Schatz with the German Council on Foreign Relations.

Thank you so much for your analysis today.

For more on this latest peace plan proposal, we spoke to Ivana Stratner in Los Angeles.

She's a research fellow at the foundation for Defense of Democracies.

I began by asking for her initial assessment on this new U.

This peace plan proposal is just one more document that I'm afraid that is not going to bring more results.

And this is why, because even though this peace plan that I read, what is available, of course, 20 point peace plan is more into helping Ukraine reach the deal.

The problem is that Russia will not accept that thing.

The good news is that President Zelensky now understands exactly how to play and how to negotiate with both Washington, but

also with Moscow, by putting Moscow on the defensive.

So they are the ones in putting the ball in their court.

And I'm afraid that based on everything else that we saw coming from Moscow, that Putin is not going to accept.

And this is why number one thing is for security guarantees.

Putin has been candid about his desire not only to subjugate Ukraine, but

also to move to other places, including the Baltic states, etc.

So on one side he's not so worried about security guarantees because he has already been testing NATO by drone incursion, sabotage activities, and

So make no mistake, even if such guarantees are in place, he will be willing and ready to cross those red lines when it comes to concessions, territory, concessions, this is extremely important.

Putin is playing a long game and we have to understand that he will be willing to accept anything right now because he needs more time to, to replenish his military, to reposition and to continue.

This is putting a very uncomfortable situation on Ukraine by trying to make concessions on territory, something that will not bode well for many people in Ukraine.

And Zelenskyy, of course, Zelenskyy needs to make certain concessions, but

those concessions are very dangerous because those territories, some of those territories are not even yet, yet under Russian control.

And that's extremely important to understand.

Now, this new plan as you've been talking about, doesn't address that big sticking point between Kiev and Moscow about the territorial concessions.

And he will control, you know, the Zara Bozieja power plant.

You've said just now that Zelensky will never give up that land.

He constitutionally can't, from what I understand.

Is this like you said, Russia simply buying time, playing that game?

Every time when there is a new proposal, and

this is not the first one, media pays attention to all those tiny details.

We have to zoom out and to see the big picture.

The big picture for Vladimir Putin is not to stop at Ukraine.

He already has a war economy inside Russia.

What is he going to do with such economy?

What is he going to do with all those people who are in front lines and suddenly trying to back to a civilian society?

The third point is that Putin wants to establish so called a new multipolar order with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

And I understand that for many analysts in the west this sounds like a wishful thinking, but

Putin doesn't have to succeed because of powerful tanks and jets.