The Ukrainians Have Room to Maneuver in Peace Deal Proposal

Kyiv, Ukraine — On Thursday, I wrote about the shock and astonishment here in Kyiv as news broke about the so-called peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

The existence of the deal was first reported by Axios and then the purported text was published by the Financial Times. Because the terms reportedly called, most significantly (a) for Ukraine to cede large chunks of unoccupied territory in the east to the Kremlin, in addition to areas already controlled by the Russian army; and (b) for the Ukrainian army to be cut in size, by as much as 50 percent, and that certain weapons, such as cruise missiles that could hurt Russia, be denied to the Ukrainians, I wrote that the deal was being uniformly seen as dead on arrival here in Ukraine.

Kyiv, Ukraine — On Thursday, I wrote about the shock and astonishment here in Kyiv as news broke about the so-called peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

The existence of the deal was first reported by Axios and then the purported text was published by the Financial Times. Because the terms reportedly called, most significantly (a) for Ukraine to cede large chunks of unoccupied territory in the east to the Kremlin, in addition to areas already controlled by the Russian army; and (b) for the Ukrainian army to be cut in size, by as much as 50 percent, and that certain weapons, such as cruise missiles that could hurt Russia, be denied to the Ukrainians, I wrote that the deal was being uniformly seen as dead on arrival here in Ukraine.