“The reported proposed peace plan would deprive Ukraine of critical defensive positions and capabilities necessary to defend against future Russian aggression, apparently in exchange for nothing,” the ISW analysts said Wednesday.
They noted it would “give this significant land to Russia — apparently for no specified compromise — sparing Russia the time, effort, and manpower that it could use elsewhere in Ukraine during renewed aggression.”
The ISW concluded that the plan, if verified, showed Russia’s maximalist territorial demands on Ukraine had essentially not changed since the initial invasion in 2022. “This reported peace plan is fundamentally the same as Russia’s 2022 Istanbul demands, which Russia presented to Ukraine when the circumstances on the battlefield appeared to favor Russia more heavily.”
