Russian Trojan Horse in Ukraine

Europe Says Long-Term Russian Presence in Ukraine is Trojan Horse for more Invasions 

Any plan that foresees the continued presence of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine for the sake of an unsecured peace is being regarded by European officials as a classic Trojan horse.

One of the plans that is being circulated calls for the establishment of an economic free zone in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts with the stationing of Russian cutthroats.

European officials have expressed their concern that this US-brokered peace deal in Ukraine could be exploited by Russia, paving the way for a re-invasion of territory in the war-battered nation’s eastern Donbas region or other regions, according to Bloomberg News and  other news outlets.

The fear is that the US plan for a demilitarized zone would give the Russia cover to deploy covert forces in the contested area pending another invasion, according to people familiar with the matter. The Kremlin might then use hybrid tactics, including so-called false flag operations, to undermine US security guarantees and manufacture the premise for a new invasion, they said.   

Russia is demanding that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions — including territory Russia doesn’t control. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has adamantly refused to cede any Ukrainian land to the Russian aggressor. NATO supports Kyiv’s position.  Europe’s main objective in the coming weeks is to ensure that any peace deal doesn’t contain a Russian Trojan horse. 

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on those concerns.  

Russian fuhrer Vladimir Putin will likely retain his maximalist goals of subjugating all of Ukraine not merely the eastern oblasts and then reconstituting the evil Russian empire.

Peter Ricketts, a former British national security adviser, said the Europeans were right to be concerned by the US proposal for a demilitarized zone. Once American attention drifted elsewhere, Putin could “create incidents as pretexts” — such as protecting Russian speakers, to move in, he said. 

“This would leave the rest of Ukraine vulnerable to the next Russian advance,” Ricketts said. “So this is not just a technical point, but a fundamental issue — for Ukraine and for European security.” 

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte this week warned of a threat beyond Ukraine’s borders, saying Russia will come for the rest of Europe if its warmongering isn’t checked now. 

“We are Russia’s next target. And we are already in harm’s way,” Rutte said in Berlin. “We must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured.”

“There is one question I — and all Ukrainians — want to get an answer to,” Zelenskyy told Bloomberg News on Monday. “If Russia again starts a war, what will our partners do.”

Congress gives Ukraine lifeline

Congress Gives Ukraine a Fighting Chance against Russian Invaders

American lawmakers have extended Ukraine’s lifeline so its armed forces can continue to defend its country against Russian cutthroats that invaded Ukraine the last time in February 2022.

The US House of Representatives on December 10 approved a new $900 billion defense spending bill that includes military aid to Ukraine. 

The bill upholds many of President Donald Trump's national security policies but places limits on his ability to reduce American troops in Europe and withhold support to Ukraine.

The bill reauthorizes the use of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a Pentagon-led program that supplies arms to Ukraine through contracts with US defense companies. It states that Ukraine will receive $400 million per year via the USAI for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

The authorization that will help Ukraine stand up to Russian aggression will also help American businesses and economy.

The legislation bars the Pentagon from reducing the number of troops "permanently stationed in or deployed" to Europe below 76,000 for longer than 45 days. 

It also requires the Defense Department to notify Congress within 48 hours of any decision to restrict intelligence sharing with Ukraine, according to Ukraine's ambassador to the US Olha Stefanishyna. Intelligence sharing is important for Ukraine because of US technological superiority in monitoring Russian activities that threaten soldiers and civilians.

The bill received bipartisan support, passing in a 312-112 vote. It will next advance to the Senate, where it is also expected to win bipartisan approval. 

According to the White House, Trump has not allocated any new defense aid packages under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) — a tool frequently used by President Joe Biden. Instead, the  administration is selling arms to Ukraine via NATO partners, using the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL).

Trump has repeatedly stressed that the US is not paying for the war to continue, but rather profiting off weapons sales to NATO.

President Trump is anti-Ukraine – He’ll Get His Comeuppance on Election Day

Flying in the face of his post-World War Two successors of both parties as well as the justified expectations of America’s European leaders and the new, hopeful former captive nations of Russian subjugation, American President Donald Trump has revealed himself to be anti-Ukraine and very pro-Russia.

As a political animal, Trump knows that in 2026 and 2028 he and the Republican Party will have to answer to Ukrainian American voters – those who became citizens this year and the descendants of the tempest tossed who settled in the land of the free and the home of the brave in the 19th century.

I have suspected this since the infamous undiplomatic ambush in the Oval Office but the cumulative manifestations of President Trump’s abusive and flippant comments about Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, führer Putin and Russia have convinced me that America’s Chief Executive is anti-Ukraine while simultaneously favoring Russia and Putin.

Trump’s latest volley came this week, when he castigated Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy for not agreeing to the peace agreement that he had composed with his negotiators and Russian representatives to the talks but without Ukrainians. He warned Ukrainian leaders that Russia, which is much bigger than Ukraine, will win because size wins. Sounds like Trump is flexing his bullying muscles. Trump surely isn’t inclined to help Ukraine defeat and expel Russia from its land. According to his new world order, helping Putin is easier than helping Ukraine and, moreover, it fits his view of the future.

“They have to play ball. If they don’t read agreements, potential agreements, it’s not easy with Russia because Russia has the upper hand. And they always did. They’re much bigger. They’re much stronger in that sense. I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the bravery and for the fighting. But you know, at some point, size will win, generally,” Trump was quoted as saying in Politico.

Trump did not even venture a small suggestion that perhaps the Armed Forces of Ukraine could defeat Russia and force its expulsion with extra arms and support. Russia, Trump concluded without consulting America’s European allies, is too powerful for Ukraine to continue fighting. Trump accused Zelenskyy of stalling progress on a peace agreement by refusing to accept demands that favor Russia and are tantamount to a capitulation for Ukraine. Then he didn’t chastise Putin and his entourage for stalling the talks with an assortment of excuses.

As for his son’s prediction that as a result of Ukraine’s alleged recalcitrance he will distance himself from the peace process, Trump said it’s not correct and it’s also not wrong.

Trump disparagingly demanded that Zelenskyy “is going to have to get on the ball and start accepting things,” adding: “When you’re losing — because he’s losing,” in an interview with Politico. That is, accepting Trump and Putin’s doomed view of Ukraine’s future.

He added: “He [President Vladimir Putin] had no respect for Zelenskyy, didn’t like Zelenskyy. They really hate each other. And part of the problem is they hate each other really a lot, you know. And it’s very hard for them to try and make a deal. It’s harder than most.”

Again, Trump shows that he doesn’t know the issues except for their superficial expressions and doesn’t care to learn and understand them. It’s not a matter of two presidents hating each other. Russia’s national animosity toward Ukraine is centuries old, it’s based on Moscow’s imperial desires, and it has precipitated numerous Russian invasions of Ukraine and bloodshed.

Speaking to the German tabloid Bild, Trump said: “He (Zelenskyy) needs to get his act together and start accepting things.” In an interview with Politico released Tuesday, Trump pressed Zelenskyy to accept the US proposal that Ukraine cede territory to Russia, arguing Moscow has the “upper hand” in its nearly four-year-old invasion, and that Zelenskyy’s government must “play ball.”

Bloomberg reported earlier that European leaders still hold out hope that Trump will return to his earlier view that Russia is responsible for the ongoing war in Ukraine, but they are also preparing for the worst-case scenario, in which the United States “forgives” Russia and leaves Ukraine with no assistance. Apparently, even Europe accepts the possibility that the pressure on Ukraine will be so unrelenting that it will be forced to accept any conclusion. This will repeat in the 21st century the historical immoral and criminal scenarios of betrayal of Ukraine by foreign powers.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), a longtime support of Ukraine, criticized Trump on Monday, accusing him of favoring Russia over US allies in Europe as part of his new National Security Strategy. Schumer, a regular speaker at the Ukrainian community’s Holodomor commemoration at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, wrote, “Moscow is now endorsing Trump’s National Security Strategy. Trump is selling out our allies in Europe and putting Russia first — the inevitable result of rolling out the red carpet for Putin in Alaska.” He added sarcastically, “This photo should be on the front cover of his so-called ‘Strategy,’” referring to a past meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska.

Putin, speaking earlier this week with pro-Kremlin advocates, reaffirmed his long-held false claim the Ukraine’s Donbas and other Ukrainian territories are Russia’s “historic territory” and vowed to fulfill his war goals. “We will certainly take it to the logical conclusion,” he said.

The logical conclusion, of which Putin speaks but the White House is silent, is the complete subjugation of Ukraine and its people by Moscow. Putin had been quoted as threatening the annihilation of all Ukrainians if they don’t give in to his demand. He said Russia will fight even until the last Ukrainian is alive.

For his part, President Zelenskyy has steadfastly reaffirmed his unwavering refusal to cede any Ukrainian territory, resisting US pressure for painful concessions to Russia as he moved Tuesday, December 9, to rally more European support for his country. Their support is reminiscent of Western European allies’ alliance against Nazi Germany.

“Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories. We, clearly, don’t want to give up anything. That’s what we are fighting for,” Zelenskyy told reporters in a WhatsApp chat late Monday.

“Do we consider ceding any territories? According to the law we don’t have such right,” he said. “According to Ukraine’s law, our constitution, international law, and to be frank, we don’t have a moral right either.”

Zelenskyy’s remarks suggest he will not bend to pressure from Putin or President Trump, whose negotiators had proposed Ukraine give up its eastern region of the Donbas – about 20% of the country’s territory – as part of a plan to end Russia's war on Ukraine. That is a significant act of surrender.

According to Ukraine’s unified national mission, the country, government, military and people, will not surrender to Russian ultimatums. Having said that, imagine what that means. All segments of Ukraine, military and civilians, easterners and westerners, farmers, professionals, and intellectuals, adults and students are committed to standing up for Ukraine. The alternative, understandably, is the annihilation of which Putin spoke.

European powers rallied behind Ukraine on Monday after Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy a day prior, accusing him of not reading the US-proposed peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war. They, representatives of NATO countries and newly-independent ones, are well aware of what they may expect if Russia defeats Ukraine.

“We stand with Ukraine,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday as the leader was hosting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron in London. 

Starmer said if a ceasefire is to be reached, it needs to be “just and lasting,” stressing “it is so important we repeatedly set out the principle that matters about Ukraine are for Ukraine.” 

The backing from the UK prime minister came after Trump said on Sunday that he was a “bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal, which was as of a few hours ago.” 

Starmer, Macron and Merz strongly back Kyiv, with the UK leader saying Monday the push for peace was at a “critical stage,” and stressed the need for “a just and lasting ceasefire.”

Merz, meanwhile, said he was “skeptical” about some details in documents released by the U.S. “We have to talk about it. That’s why we are here,” he said. “The coming days … could be a decisive time for all of us.”

European leaders are working to ensure that any ceasefire is backed by solid security guarantees both from Europe and the US to deter Russia from attacking again, a realistic possibility. Trump has not given explicit guarantees in public.

Zelenskyy and his European allies have repeatedly accused Putin of slow-walking the talks to press ahead with the invasion as his forces make steady gains while waves of missiles and drones pummel Ukrainian infrastructure.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also alleged the Trump administration was undermining Ukraine and US interests for personal and political gain.

If Ukraine falls to Russian aggression regardless of Trump’s warped reasoning, it will be a dark day that will live on in infamy. It will answer the question of “Who lost Ukraine.” Trump did. 

Ukraine, Its Security and Sovereignty, and the Future

In addition to defeating and expelling Russia from Ukraine, the government of Ukraine is faced with an enduring long-term threat once the guns have silenced.

What should the free world leaders do with Moscow’s recidivist voracious desire for aggression and grabbing Ukrainian land even after a peace treaty is signed by representatives of Kyiv, Moscow, the European Union and other interested parties? It’s happened in the past regardless if a supposedly unbreakable treaty is signed or not. And the usual victim has been Ukraine.

While this topic is on the agenda of the peace talks, no one except for the representatives of Ukraine are treating this seriously.

Last summer, I wrote that Andriy Yermak, then head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Administration replied to my question that the concept of a Ukrainian victory is not bandied about lightly in Kyiv. The government is not merely trying to save Ukraine but it is also fighting to defeat Russia, Yermak said.

Then a few weeks later, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiha, speaking with Ukrainian civic activists ahead of the 80^th Session of the UN General Assembly, reiterated similar comments, saying that Ukraine has already won the war. After more than three and a half years of fighting against the second largest army in the world, Ukraine certainly won such a distinction. However, he cautioned, Russia unfortunately will not disappear with the end of hostilities. Even in victory and peace, Ukraine will continue to face at times an aggressive Russia and at other times a vicious neighbor that has crossed the frontier into Ukraine. Consequently, Ukraine, with the help of the United States and the free world, must be eternally vigilant, prepared and armed to preserve its independence.

Yermak and Sybiha’s message one the hand is encouraging for all Ukrainians and people of good will everywhere. But on the other, with visions of historical Russian massacres of unarmed Ukrainian civilians and destructions of cities, towns and infrastructure, another gory specter materializes. Russia had brought death to Ukraine on swords and now it brings death on drones.

The war on the ground is hard fought. Russians capture one town only to be evicted by Ukrainian soldiers who are then expelled by the aggressors.

The saddest chapters are those that are written at night and the early morning, in the frigid cold, when Russian drones and missiles strike apartment buildings, peoples’ homes, ripping apart walls and exposing bedrooms and children’s toys, like they did in Ternopil a few weeks ago.

An explosion rocked Kharkiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district, Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on December 3. “According to preliminary information, there are casualties as a result of the enemy strike on Shevchenkivskyi district,” Terekhov wrote on his Telegram channel. He later reported that the body of one deceased person was found under the rubble at the site of the explosion in Shevchenkivskyi district, and as of 14:32, two people were known to be injured.

Four people were killed and 40 wounded in a Russian missile attack on the eastern-central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Monday, December 1, Ukrainian officials said.

The attack came amid an intensified diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year war, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visiting Paris on Monday, a day after his team held talks with US officials. Zelenskyy has been travelling to many national capitals to solidify support for this nation.

Vladyslav Haivanenko, the acting governor of the surrounding Dnipropetrovsk region, said on the Telegram messaging app that 11 of those injured in the strike were in a serious condition. He said the search and rescue operation had been completed.

Russian strikes against civilian targets are considered war crimes, a topic which Moscow insists cannot be covered in the negotiations. Ukrainians, including President Zelenskyy, feel otherwise. Ukrainian journalist and one of the country’s most prominent human rights activists, Maksym Butkevych, spent more than two years in Russian captivity. He told Euronews Moscow is deliberately trying to avoid inevitable responsibility.

When the first version of the US-Russia plan was leaked to the media two weeks ago, Moscow sought to include a specific demand: amnesty for Russian forces for all they had done since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

“All parties involved in this conflict will receive full amnesty for their actions during the war and agree not to make any claims or consider any complaints in the future,” the alleged 28-point plan suggested.

This demand caused significant outrage in Ukraine, where people and authorities have been meticulously documenting all of Russia’s alleged war crimes for further investigation to hold Moscow accountable.

“While I was still in captivity, my fellow prisoners of war would come to me and ask whether they would be able to testify, for example, before the International Criminal Court or other bodies that could bring those who had done this to us to justice,” Butkevych said.

Russian soldiers have also been executing unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war, another barefaced war crime.

The rhetorical question of what to do with Russia persists? Why can’t President Trump and his team close the deal as they’ve said they could in a short time? As I have written in the past, Russia doesn’t care about a peace deal to end the war, it doesn’t care how many of its soldiers and citizens are killed, it doesn’t care about its public image. Moscow is holding fast to its goal, which is to ultimately enslave all of Ukraine and its people. Nothing else matters. Its leaders have unabashedly proclaimed this on numerous occasions though sadly President Trump and his team have failed to hear and comprehend the meaning.

As for why are the negotiations failures? The answer clearly is their ignorance of the issues involved and stubbornness to comprehend them.

During one of the roundtable sessions in Florida a few days ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked by the journalists to assess the talks and he demonstrated the Administration’s ignorance of the issues. Rubio replied, “This is about ending a war in a way that creates a mechanism and a way forward that will allow them to be independent and sovereign, never have another war again, and create tremendous prosperity for its (sic) people.”

This quote appeared differently in the news media but it’s the version that I also heard on television. I mention this here because of the word “them.” It’s not a mere lapsus linguae, a slip of the tongue. It underscores the ignorance of the issues and careless or premeditated disregard for them as well. Rubio’s wish to create a mechanism to allow Ukraine and Russia to be independent and sovereign means both countries are equal, both are guiltless, both have the same right to independence and sovereignty and both can create prosperity for its (sic) people.

This mindset will maintain false parity between aggressor and victim ad nauseam. It will show Moscow that the free world is not blaming it for this bloody war but actually supports the Kremlin’s demand to keep the Ukrainian lands it seized because, after all, the Russians fought and won it as Trump said.

This line of thinking disqualifies the Trump team from arbitrating peace between Ukraine and its age-old nemesis Russia.

A colleague and friend of mine, Serhiy Kvit, former minister of education of Ukraine and president of the ancient, storied Ukrainian institution Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, ventured an explanation why the talks have failed and why they will continue to fail: the United States is not a trustworthy friend and advocate of Ukraine.

“At the international level, the main indicator of Ukraine’s current and potential allies is not the political self-identification of their parties within national contexts, but the extent to which they respect Ukrainian sovereignty and understand Ukrainian national interests. It is not words that matter most, but actions – although words are important too, as they shape our reality. Mutual respect, from which trust grows, remains the key criterion for determining who Ukraine’s true friends are – that is, those who deserve respect and trust in return,” Kvit wrote in an article that will appear in the next edition of The Ukrainian Quarterly.

With major national elections coming up in 2026 and 2028, Ukrainian Americans can take this message of victory and Russian crimes to President Trump, their elected representatives and the entire Washington establishment.  If they don’t unequivocally support Ukraine, then surely Ukrainian American voters won’t support them.

Nobody wants the war to end more than the President of Ukraine and the people of Ukraine. Nobody wants Ukrainians to defeat Russians more than Ukrainians around the world. Nobody wants justice more than Ukrainians everywhere. Listen to them.

But Ukrainians, more than Washington and Moscow, want a just peace, one point that will see Russian cutthroats leave forever Ukraine.

Don’t Feign Surprise by Putin’s Oft-Repeated Demands and Threats

Führer Putin lately has voiced a supposedly surprisingly new twist to Russia’s peace demands that has shocked the world but is unfortunately disregarded by the White House.

However, I have written about this goal over the years in current and older blogposts.

It has been my contention substantiated by Russian officials and leaders of the former captive nations that Moscow’s goal is, was and will be to subjugate Ukraine and enslave all Ukrainians not only in the eastern-most oblasts. Whether President Donald J. Trump, his representative Steve Witkoff and other relevant Administration officials have known and paid attention to Russia’s true historical intentions is immaterial now. However, it is quite obvious that they’re not staying up-to-date with the Kremlin’s pronouncements at least since the ill-fated Alaska Summit regarding the latest iteration of its war against Ukraine.

Despite its support for pointless cultural exchanges or joint flights to outer space since the end of the Second World War, the Kremlin was never a friend or ally of the United States and the West. It pursued apace its policy, mission and manifest destiny to seize, occupy and preserve near and distant nations as its captives.

A few specific pronouncements by Putin this week caught the attention of news media that were turned into headlines:

• Russia ready to ‘fight to the last Ukrainian,’ Putin says amid US peace drive

• Putin insists Ukraine has to surrender territory for any deal to be possible

• ‘Russia to fight until last Ukrainian dies’: Putin threatens annihilation if Zelenskyy wouldn’t surrender

• Putin says Russia will fight on unless Ukraine cedes land

• Putin doubles down on demands for Ukrainian territory ahead of talks with US in Moscow

These statements are at loggerheads with interpretations by White House officials.

Sticking to his maximalist demands irrespective of President Donald Trump’s peace process, Putin, in reality, has threatened Ukraine with annihilation and extinction if President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn’t surrender territories he wants, end his plan to accede to NATO and reduce the number of Ukraine’s arms. The threats are not new – they began with tsarist massacre at Baturyn and the Soviet Russian created Holodomor.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Kyrgyzstan, Putin said that Russia would continue its aggression in Ukraine “until the last Ukrainian dies” if necessary to get what he wants. Moscow has thus outlined its hard and fast the steps to win. Russia will fight until the last Ukrainian dies – a terrifying assertion at a time when the world is hoping and praying for peace as it sits atop a global power keg.

“If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations. If they don’t, then we will achieve it by military means. Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the territories they hold, and then the fighting will cease. If they don't leave, then we shall achieve this by force. That’s it,” Putin said.

Additionally, ex-prime minister and former FSB (Russian secret police) boss Sergei Stepashin salivatingly predicted a weakened Ukraine could lose vital coastal hubs like Mykolayiv and Odesa on the Black Sea.

“To be honest, I would really like Odesa and Mykolayiv to be part of my country,” he declared, adding this might be achieved “without war” as the “next stage,” implying Ukraine’s collapse would make resistance futile.

Putin himself doubled down, declaring he will expand the conflict unless Ukraine surrenders the remainder of Donetsk and Luhansk. “Some people demand to keep on fighting until the last Ukrainian dies, Russia is ready for that,” said Putin. “Ukrainian troops will withdraw from the territories they occupy, and then the fighting will cease.”

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia “scorned” efforts “to truly end the war” prolonging the war with his range of complaints and prevarications.

Ukraine’s top negotiator until today when he resigned, Andriy Yermak, told The Atlantic that Zelenskyy would never allow Ukraine to cede land to Russia as part of a peace agreement. After a long week of discussions with US officials, Yermak emphasized that “As long as Mr. Zelenskyy is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory.”

“Not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory,” he said.

Anyone suggesting that it is fair and just to negotiate with an aggressor is naïve and threatens the disruption of the established legitimate precepts of the international legal and political order that has existed at least since the end of World War Two.

Anyone suggesting that Putin is an honest negotiator and equal partner is threatening Ukraine and the former captive nations with a return to Russian subjugation.

It will certainly be painful to listen to the question “Who lost Ukraine?” 

Congressional Group Denounces Trump-Peace Plan for Ukraine as Capitulation

A bipartisan group of lawmakers denounced the Trump-Putin peace plan for Ukraine, declaring it “unacceptable” and a premise for Ukraine’s surrender and capitulation to Russia.

They said it does not offer a path to lasting peace while rewarding Russia for its unprovoked invasion, illegal seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea, pressures Kyiv to limit its defense capabilities and abandon its NATO aspirations.

The Congressional Ukraine Caucus issued its statement earlier this week after the plan was revealed. The caucus was formed 1997, some six years after Ukraine declared its independence from Moscow’s subjugation.

The Co-Chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus, Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01), Mike Quigley (D-IL-05), along with Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE-02), chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation issued the following statement:

The proposed ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine appears to favor the interests of the aggressor — Dictator Vladimir Putin — over the sovereignty and security of a democratic Ukraine. That is unacceptable. This framework does not offer a genuine path to lasting peace, but instead, demands the surrender and capitulation of Ukraine to Russian aggression. It rewards Russia’s unprovoked invasion, illegal seizure of Ukrainian territory, such as Crimea, and pressures Ukraine to limit its defense capabilities and abandon its aspirations for NATO membership. 

Furthermore, Russia’s ambitions do not end at Ukraine’s borders. Putin continues to seek broader influence in Europe. Accepting this proposed plan not only submits Ukraine’s independence to Russian tyranny, but leaves all of Europe even more vulnerable to future Russian aggression. A responsible approach must support Ukraine’s sovereignty, strengthen its defense, and hold Russia accountable for its actions in coordination with our NATO and European Allies.

Reports indicate the plan was developed primarily by US and Russian officials, with limited to no consultation from Kyiv or key European partners. Allies have rightly rejected the proposal, describing it as a framework to reward aggression rather than defending Ukrainian freedom and securing peace through strength.

The Administration’s backing of this plan, raises serious concerns. As Members of the Free World, united across political lines, we call for decisive and principled action:

•Reject any framework that requires Ukraine surrender further territory or cede legal authority over its sovereign land.

•Maintain and strengthen sanctions on Russia until it fully withdraws and makes reparations.

•Ensure Ukraine is a full, equal partner in any, and all, negotiations — not a passive recipient of Moscow-dictated terms.

•Provide robust, enforceable security guarantees that deter further aggression.

•Coordinate closely with NATO and European allies to uphold international norms and prevent renewed conflict in Europe.

The path to lasting peace must be rooted in justice and the sovereignty of Ukraine’s people. History is unambiguous: appeasing aggressor does not end conflict, it enables its expansion. That warning echoes especially loud today on Holodomor Remembrance Day, during which the world commemorates the millions of Ukrainians murdered in the man-made, genocidal famines orchestrated by Moscow from 1932-33. Allowing Russia to reclaim authority over Ukraine today would ignore that history and reopen the door to the same oppression Ukrainians have fought for generations to overcome.

Accepting this proposal as it is being reported would undermine European and NATO security, weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself, and fail to address Russian aggression. The international community must remain firm in supporting Ukraine, upholding the principles of territorial integrity and self-determination, and rejecting any plan that rewards an aggressor. Lasting peace comes not from conceding to aggression, but from the strength and unity of free nations that refuse to bow to it.

Ukrainian Journalist Tells of His Russian Imprisonment

Captured by Russian security services and sentenced on false charges, Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko spent more than four years in a Russian prison, enduring torture while trying to maintain his sanity and physical strength, wrote Gulnoza Said in an article titled “Life Goes on without You” that appeared on the website of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Yesypenko, who covered Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea for the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was released in June. He was first detained by Russian authorities in March 2021. Since his release, Yesypenko has been actively advocating for the release of many other Ukrainians languishing in Russian jails. 

Russia is currently holding 28 journalists behind bars, according to CPJ’s research. Twelve of them are Ukrainians. Journalist Viktoria Roshchina, who reported from the occupied territories after Russia started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, perished in Russian captivity in 2024. 

Seven out of the 12 Ukrainians are ethnic Crimean Tatar journalists who reported on human rights violations after Russia occupied and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014. They are serving lengthy prison sentences on anti-state charges.

CPJ’s Gulnoza Said spoke to Yesypenko on several occasions in Prague and New York in recent weeks about what having international support meant to him while he was imprisoned, and how his life has changed since his release. This interview was edited for length and clarity. 

Can you tell us the circumstances of your arrest in 2021 and conviction in 2022? 

Before my arrest, I was traveling to Crimea to cover various political, social, and other events and to do vox-pop with local people. I also contributed to RFE/RL’s investigative reporting about Western companies that continued working in Crimea even though it was illegally occupied by Russia. 

In March 2021, I was on assignment when I was stopped by FSB [Russian security service] officers. They planted a grenade in my car and accused me of possessing and transporting explosive ammunition. It was clearly fabricated. They took me to the basement of some building and tortured me with electrocution and beat me for more than 24 hours. They attached electric wires to my ears, forcing me to confess that I was spying for Ukraine. 

I was convicted in August 2022 for crimes I didn’t commit. 

In those circumstances, when you are tortured, all you want is for it to end. I could think of nothing but how to survive it. So, if the conviction meant the end of the torture, I was ready to be convicted. I didn’t want to die. That’s the main thought you have when you cannot stand the pain anymore. I was thinking about my daughter, my wife, and everybody else I love.  

What else helped you in captivity?

I used to do sambo and judo [martial arts] when I was younger. I didn’t have time to exercise or do martial arts before my imprisonment. But when I was captured, I realized that I must stay alive, be as healthy and fit as I could — for my family, friends, colleagues, and everyone who was fighting for my freedom. I needed to stay fit and strong to be able to fight for the freedom of other prisoners who became my friends in captivity. A physically strong body gives you strength of mind and spirit. I knew that as a former athlete. So, I knew that this was my way to not lose sanity in captivity. 

Aside from that, at some point when I was behind bars, I learned that people were protesting my imprisonment. My wife sent me photographs of people demanding my release and holding posters with my photo. It came as a surprise, because when you have no contact with the outside world, it’s easy to think that everyone forgot about you. My wife, Kateryna, became my biggest advocate. I know she was in touch with you from the beginning and that you advocated for my release, providing financial assistance to cover legal aid.

It gave me a lot of courage when I was behind bars to learn that so many people were supporting me and other political prisoners.

Your time in captivity was a horrific experience, but I’m happy you survived it. 

I did. But look at Viktoria Roshchina. Russian prison authorities killed her through torture. She was a hero because she decided to report from the occupied territories when Russia launched a full-fledged war on Ukraine. She took a risk, traveling there. Her body was returned to her family with multiple parts missing — her brain, her eyeballs, her larynx. Medical experts say that those body parts help identify whether a person was suffocated, which she [probably] was. When I was at her burial, I realized that capturing and killing Ukrainian journalists has become a goal [for the Russians] in itself. The press insignia on a journalist’s vest or helmet is a target for Russian forces, for their drones that let them see who is being targeted, who is in the crosshairs. 

[CPJ emailed the pretrial detention center No. 3 in Kizel, in Russia’s Perm Krai administrative territory, where Roshchina died, for comments on the circumstances of her death, but did not receive any response.]

What has been the hardest thing since your release? 

I would say two things: first, to realize that life continued while I was in captivity. My daughter grew so much. My wife and daughter have their own routine. They got used to living without me. One thing every prisoner should know is that it takes time to adjust to a new life, and that life goes on without you; you will not have the same life once you are out. 

The second is the work I have been doing. I am a reporter. I was never trained to speak in public. Look at me now. Here I am in New York, giving a speech at UN headquarters, at Columbia University. I’m meeting with CPJ. These are the things I never imagined doing. I still struggle to speak in public on such big podiums because I feel responsible for those who remain behind bars and are deprived of the right to speak for themselves. Being their voice and advocate is a very important job and responsibility.

You are working hard to advocate for justice in Roshchina’s case and the cases of your RFE/RL colleagues who remain in captivity, and for many other Ukrainians imprisoned unjustly.

Yes, I believe this is my duty now. I try to make people aware of the plight of my colleagues Nika Novak, jailed in Russia, and Farid Mehralizada, jailed in Azerbaijan, for working for RFE/RL. I also speak about my former cellmates — Ukrainian political prisoners, patriots of Ukraine — who died in Russian captivity because they were tortured or didn’t receive the medical help they needed. 

Do you have hope that more Ukrainians will be released? What are your thoughts on the war?

When I speak in public, many people approach me afterward and express empathy and support. Sometimes, they are ready to donate to help other Ukrainians in captivity. I’m very thankful to them. 

In terms of the war, many ask: “What can we do?” Honestly, this is not the question I would like to hear. This question was okay to ask in 2022 when Russia launched a full-fledged war against Ukraine. By now, the international community should have had a plan and mechanisms in place to stop Russia, stop the war, and free all political prisoners. In a few months, we’ll mark four years since this war started and 12 years since Russia occupied and annexed Crimea. We’re a very large, multimillion-person community of good people, but we can’t stop one man who decided he can wage an unprovoked war against civilized people?

Is there anything you would like to add?

I wanted to thank you, CPJ, and other international organizations, my colleagues at RFE/RL and the governments of Ukraine and the United States. It’s because of you all that I’m free. Let’s continue working together to make sure that everyone who is unjustly jailed is freed. Let’s stand together against the kind of aggression that kills not just people but freedom of speech and media. We rely on you for this.