Name: Zelenskyy’s 20 point peace plan
Uploaded: 2025-12-24T16:49:23.001Z
Duration: 4 min 4 s
Description: Russia analyst András Rácz joins us to assess President Zelensky’s new peace plan. He says the proposals mark an important step in that they lay out a unified position on some issues for the first time. But key issues still need to be resolved. And he’s not optimistic Russia will respond positively. Rácz is with the German Council on Foreign Relations, speaking from Budapest.

Russia analyst András Rácz joins us to assess President Zelensky’s new peace plan. He says the proposals mark an important step in that they lay out a unified position on some issues for the first time. But key issues still need to be resolved. And he’s not optimistic Russia will respond positively. Rácz is with the German Council on Foreign Relations, speaking from Budapest.

Kyiv

A new version of President Zelenskyy's 20-point peace plan has been presented as a joint proposal by Ukraine, the United States, and several European countries, marking the most unified Western approach to ending the conflict in Ukraine so far. The plan addresses major sticking points such as territorial concessions in the Donbas region and the management of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, but leaves some issues unresolved.

Analysts note that Russia's response to the proposal is uncertain, with expectations that Moscow may seek further negotiations rather than outright rejection, while continuing military operations. The plan includes options for freezing the current front line or creating a free economic zone, but the prospect of a quick resolution remains doubtful.

Zelenskyy’s 20 point peace plan

For more on this, we can speak to Andres Rutz. He's a Russia analyst with the German Council on Foreign Relations and joins me today from Budapest. Welcome to you. 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? Good afternoon to all of you. Thank you for having me. I think the most important part of the plan that right now, finally, Ukrainian and U.S. demands are coordinated. This is a joint proposal and it's not only Ukraine and the U.S., but it was joined also by several European countries as well. So, so far, this is the best and most detailed proposal that a more or less united West, unified West can give to Ukraine. And now, of course, everyone is waiting for Russia's reaction. The U.S. and Ukraine didn't come to an agreement about a big sticking point, though, between Kiev 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 Zelensky could do, either constitutionally or actually politically. So, no, I do not see that coming. 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, however, no territory returned either. If that one would be unacceptable, there is kind of a plan B, a US proposal, transforming the line of contact into some kind of a free economic zone. It's not really detailed. But still, for Ukraine, freezing the front line 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 Zaporizhia 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. This is also a question mark. OK, 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. Now everyone is turning to Russia. 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, is that Russia will not reject the proposal, because that may induce further US sanctions, it may alienate the United States. 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 a quick resolution of the conflict. We've been speaking with Andreas Ratz, with the German Council on Foreign Relations. Thank you so much for your analysis today. Thank you.

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