By Paul Dragu
The New American
November 28, 2025
There's been a lot of hubbub about a working peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. The plan is reportedly gaining traction. Recent statements by officials suggest Ukraine has agreed to the "core terms" of the plan, which many say favors the Russians. But those core terms include territorial concessions and post-war military limitations that some of the most powerful voices in the Ukrainian military and politics have indicated are non-negotiable.
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll held discussions with Ukrainian officials in Geneva over the weekend. And on Monday, he held talks with a Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi, according to reports. By Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement saying "tremendous progress towards a peace deal" had been made.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov published a statement hours earlier saying American and Ukrainian delegations have "reached a common understanding on the core terms of the agreement." However, he added, "We now count on the support of our European partners in our further steps."
We appreciate the productive and constructive meetings held in Geneva between the Ukrainian and U.S. delegations, as well as President Trump's steadfast efforts to end the war.Our delegations reached a common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in...
- Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) November 25, 2025
Europe's Plan
The Council of the European Union said in a statement on Saturday, a few days after news of the plan had been leaked, that the proposal was "a basis which will require additional work." It also suggested the Europeans were not OK with at least one of the core tenets of the plan. "We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force," according to the statement.
Throughout the entire war, the Europeans have consistently discouraged peace and pushed the Ukrainians to keep fighting. When President Donald Trump cut off the blank checks and stopped the free weapons from flowing, the Europeans stepped in to buy American weapons for the Ukrainians (the United States, however, is still providing intelligence to the Ukrainians). But they've stopped short of sending official boots on the ground. They'll let Ukraine's pregnant women fight before they step in.
Russian Skepticism
Russian state media organ RT published a report Tuesday implying that optimism toward an agreement is unwarranted. "After a tense weekend of talks in Geneva, that plan has been cut down and rebranded as an 'updated and refined peace framework,' but the core reality hasn't changed: Washington, key EU capitals, Kiev and Moscow are all reading from different scripts," the Russians said. Moreover, core Russian demands have apparently been removed from the working draft. According to the Russians, "The key issues - territorial concessions, Ukraine's NATO status and some of the military restrictions - have reportedly been taken out of the main text and parked in separate 'follow-up' documents for talks at presidential level."
The Europeans are reportedly scrambling to rewrite the plan more to their liking, which will likely turn off the Russians, who have no intention of walking away from territory they have spent three years and piles of bodies to capture.
American Realism
Of all the outside parties at the table, it looks as if the Americans are the only ones who have a sober understanding of the situation. Unlike Ukraine and the Europeans, the United States understands why the terms favor the winning side. This is the way it works with peace treaties. Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff knows this. According to a Wall Street Journal report on how the plan came about, "Witkoff, through conversations with U.S. and foreign officials and reading intelligence assessments, concluded that Ukraine was in the weaker position militarily." More from the Journal:
Despite absorbing Russia's all-out invasion in February 2022 and forcing it to fight at great cost for small territorial gains, Ukraine is still at a disadvantage, the officials said. It would need to concede more than Moscow in a peace deal to have any hope of getting the Kremlin to halt the war.
In addition to restricting the size of Ukraine's post-war army and barring any chances of NATO membership, the plan requires that all other countries but Ukraine recognize Crimea as Russian territory, that Ukraine give up the entire Donbas region, 14 percent of which is still controlled by Ukraine, as well as most of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The deal also includes the lifting of sanctions off Russia and the creation of U.S.-Russia business ties. Read our previous report for more on the plan here.
Russia has few incentives to capitulate. Aside from incurring more sanctions, which are certainly not helping its economy, it holds the rest of the cards. Its army continues to advance against a Ukrainian military operating at a fraction of full capacity. Moreover, Ukraine's political leadership is imploding, thanks to recent revelations of a massive war-profiteering kickback scandal involving people close to Zelensky. Ukraine is falling apart on every important front.
Interventionist Blowback
It's also important to remember that the United States almost certainly played a role in triggering this war. This isn't Russian propaganda. Several informed figures have provided evidence, some of which we've relayed in previous reports. Former Texas congressman Ron Paul summarized America's role in this fiasco on Tuesday. Paul pointed out:
From the Orange Revolution in the early 2000s to the Maidan revolution in 2014, the US and its NATO partners have been interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs in attempt to manipulate the country into a hostile position toward its much larger and more powerful neighbor, Russia.
We must remember how directly coordinated the 2014 coup was by the United States. US Senators, including John McCain and Lindsey Graham, were on the main square of a foreign capital demanding that the people overthrow their duly elected government. Victoria Nuland was caught on a telephone call planning who would run the post-coup government. For the entirety of this conflict politicians and the media have been unwavering in blaming Russia entirely for what has occurred. I agree that they're no angels.
Paul added another sobering tidbit:
But the real villains here are the US neocons and their European counterparts who knew it was suicidal for Ukraine to take on Russia but pushed Ukraine to keep fighting anyway. Early in the conflict a deal was on the table and nearly signed that would end the war, but the neocon former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanded that Ukraine keep fighting.
Witkoff and his team were right to keep the Europeans out of the negotiations for as long as they could. If only Zelensky would do the same.
Just End It
Whatever side Americans take in this war, if they take any at all, it is in the best interest of all Americans that this war ends, and that it ends soon. The longer it continues, the chances of escalation remain. If the Europeans get embroiled, it will only be a matter of time before they convince our foolish leaders to send American soldiers into Ukraine. The United States is a NATO member, meaning the pressure to support the Europeans will be insurmountable.
Meanwhile, as for how our leaders can truly bring an end to the fighting, we refer back to the wisdom of Ron Paul:
President Trump promised he would end the war 24 hours after he was elected. It was an unrealistic boast, but he actually could have ended it rather quickly. The antidote to intervention is non-intervention. Biden drug us into the war, that is true. But Trump could have pulled us out by quite simply ending all US involvement. No weapons, no intelligence, no coordination. No need for sanctions or the threat of sanctions, no need for elaborate peace plans. It is unimaginably cruel to demand that Ukraine keep fighting our proxy war down to the last Ukrainian. No 28-point plans can fix this. The real fix is much simpler: walk away.
This article was originally published on The New American.