By Jabir Deralla
When an aggressor speaks of ‘peace’ while his missiles still fall on cities and kill civilians, the world has a moral duty to read the fine print — and see the blood it’s written in.
The reported 28-point U.S.–Russia plan for Ukraine — drafted behind closed doors by Donald Trump’s envoys and Kremlin fixer Kirill Dmitriev — is, ladies and gentlemen, not a roadmap to peace. It is a blueprint for Ukrainian capitulation and a long-term Russian sword held over Europe’s security. In truth, it signals the beginning of a wider capitulation of Europe itself — and a devastating blow to democracy as we know it.
According to international outlets, this despicable plan would compel Ukraine to surrender the rest of the Donbas — including cities Russia has failed to capture even through mass murder and terror. It would cripple Ukraine’s defence by slashing its armed forces by half and stripping Kyiv of essential weapons, especially long-range missiles. It goes on to expel all foreign troops and ban NATO presence, leaving Ukraine isolated and exposed. And then it crosses an even darker line: attempting to erase the victim itself by imposing cultural concessions such as official status for the Russian language and the Russian Orthodox Church — the very tools Moscow has used for decades to infiltrate, divide, and dominate. In exchange, Ukraine and Europe are offered vague U.S. “security guarantees” whose credibility is already in ruins after the Budapest Memorandum was clearly violated by Russia’s brutal war of aggression.
Even if a single fragment of this plan were true, it would be unacceptable. Taken together, it is nothing less than an attempt to force a defeated future onto a nation that has refused to be defeated — and to impose a dangerous new security disorder across Europe. This is not peace. It is the codification of Putin’s maximalist war aims under American patronage.
It’s simple. Peace cannot be negotiated over Ukraine’s head!
Perhaps the most cynical aspect of this plan is not only its content, but its format: it is reportedly being shaped primarily between Washington and Moscow, while Ukraine and Europe are treated as spectators at their own funeral. European foreign ministers have stated the obvious — any settlement that redraws borders, reshapes NATO’s eastern flank, or defines the future of European security must include Kyiv and European capitals at the table. But inclusion is not enough. Even when invited, Europe must answer Russia’s “plans” and proposals with a firm and principled — No! Because the only acceptable path to peace is ending the war and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Who called it diplomacy? To talk about “ending the war in Europe” without Ukraine and Europe present is a sheer neo-imperial bargaining in its purest form.
Territorial integrity is not a bargaining chip!
The proposed concessions strike at the heart of international law. Forcing Ukraine to relinquish territory that Russia has annexed illegally and only partially occupied is an attempt to retroactively legalise aggression.
If this principle is accepted – that nuclear-armed states may wage aggressive war, occupy a neighbour, commit atrocities, and then exchange stolen land for “cash”, sanctions relief or paper guarantees – then no border in Europe is safe. Moldova, Georgia, the Baltic states, and other parts of the EU will certainly become negotiable “zones of influence”.
The lesson of the 20th century is simple: borders changed by force invite more force. Appeasement does not prevent the next war. It prepares it.
So, what do we have now – disarming the victim, rewarding the aggressor!?
The plan’s military provisions are especially dangerous. Halving Ukraine’s armed forces, banning long-range missiles, rolling back Western support and forbidding future international deployments would turn Ukraine into a disarmed buffer state, while Russia keeps its war machine, propaganda apparatus, and nuclear blackmail intact.
This couldn’t be further from the idea of creating security for anyone. It merely ensures that the next round of aggression begins from a more favourable position for Moscow. That is all.
A “peace” that strips the victim of self-defence while leaving the aggressor unpunished is not peace. It is managed surrender.
Budapest, again – only worse
Ukrainians have already lived through the tragedy of false guarantees. In 1994, they gave up the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal in exchange for assurances of sovereignty and territorial integrity under the Budapest Memorandum. Those guarantees collapsed the moment Russian tanks crossed the border, occupying parts of Donbas, and annexed Crimea in 2014.
To offer new, even vaguer U.S. “security guarantees” while asking Ukraine to legalise Russia’s land grab and dismantle its army is not just naïve. It is insulting.
You do not restore the credibility of broken promises by asking the victim to sign away even more.
Justice for war crimes is non-negotiable
Behind every line on the map are human lives. Independent investigations and a U.N. Commission of Inquiry have documented torture, summary executions, sexual violence and systematic enforced disappearances in Russian-occupied areas. And abduction of 20,000 Ukrainian children!
Pushing Ukraine to abandon millions more of its citizens to this reality – without ironclad mechanisms of justice and protection – means trading human beings for a diplomatic photo-op and hefty profits. A Nobel Peace Prize, maybe? What a mockery on top of the graves of thousands!
Seriously, any truly just peace must recognise Russia’s full responsibility for the aggression, nothing less. It must guarantee unhindered investigations and prosecutions for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including at the International Criminal Court. A just peace has to make sure that the right of return is secured, and reparations for the country – victim of the aggression must be paid. The world has to prevent de facto amnesty for those who ordered and enabled atrocities.
A peace that ignores justice is only an armistice with impunity.
A genuine peace process cannot begin with Russia’s maximalist demands or with Trump’s transactional instincts. It must begin with principles — simple, clear, legal, and ethical:
1. Full respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and internationally recognised borders — including Crimea and all territories occupied since 2014. No negotiations can legitimise aggression.
2. A security architecture with Ukraine in it, not around it — whether through NATO, EU guarantees, or enforceable bilateral and multilateral treaties. Europe’s safety must not rest on Putin’s delusions of dominance.
3. Equal representation of Ukraine and Europe in every stage of the process.
Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.
Nothing about European security without Europe.
4. Justice and accountability as non-negotiable foundations.
Any peace must be tied to international legal processes, sanctions mechanisms, criminal accountability, and safeguards against renewed aggression.
5. Clear conditionality for Russia.
No easing of sanctions, no reintegration, and no diplomatic rehabilitation until Russia withdraws its forces, pays reparations, and proves verifiable compliance with international law.
Europe has already paid a high price in energy shocks, defence spending, and Russian sabotage on its soil. It cannot afford a settlement that keeps the Kremlin’s hand on the switch of future crises.
The choice in front of us.
We must be honest about what is happening. The 28-point plan or any initiative that comes from the war criminal’s cabinet is not an honest offer. It is a mockery. It is a test balloon: can the world be persuaded, under the banner of “ending the war” – to accept a framework that entrenches Russian gains, gives way to impunity, destroys Ukraine, and deeply endangers Europe?
The answer must be a clear and resounding no. Looters, murderers and rapists cannot be allowed to write their own verdicts.
A just peace will require difficult compromises. But the party that must compromise first is the one that launched an aggressive war, occupied a neighbour’s land, and filled Ukrainian cities with mass graves – not the country defending its existence.
Ukraine has never asked the world to fight its war. It is Ukraine that fights the war for the world. Now it is the turn of the world to at least not sign away Ukraine’s future.
Europe and the democratic world do not have the right to legitimise aggression out. Fatigue is not an excuse.
No peace without justice. No security without Ukraine. No deals about Ukraine and Europe without Ukraine and Europe at the table.