EDITORIAL: No Imposed Capitulation!

On Nov. 21, 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky described Ukraine’s situation in blunt terms: the nation faces “one of the most difficult moments” in its history, caught between “the loss of dignity or the threat of losing a key partner.” His call for a “dignified peace” that respects Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty reflects both the desperation and determination of a country fighting for its survival.

But the leaked 28-point peace plan doesn’t look like a diplomatic solution. It looks like a surrender document – and an almost total one at that. If Neville Chamberlain were alive to read it, even he might be embarrassed. History has taught us this lesson before: appeasement doesn’t prevent conflict. It just delays it and makes it worse.

Whatever President Trump’s intentions may be, he cannot be allowed to make deals with Russia over the heads of Ukraine, Europe, and the rest of the democratic world. That’s not how this works and is unacceptable.

Russia’s goals in the 2022 invasion were never hidden: seize territory, force Ukrainian neutrality, gut its military, and bring the country back under Moscow’s ideological control. This proposed peace plan hands Russia every single one of these objectives. It’s almost as if the Kremlin wrote it themselves.

The territorial provisions are straightforward theft made legal. Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk would be formally ceded to Russia, turning an illegal land grab into internationally recognized borders.

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The Illusion of a Peace Deal for Ukraine

Anyone who believes Russia is serious about negotiating a peace deal with Ukraine need only look at what Moscow says to be disabused. For those who consider Zelensky to be the one who is obstreperously rejecting reasonable compromises, let them lay out a point-by-point plan of what they and Russia see as the path towards ending this war. I’ll wager nobody can.

The military terms are just as bad. Ukraine’s armed forces would be capped at 600,000 personnel – a number clearly designed to make real self-defense impossible. Permanent neutrality would be written into Ukraine’s constitution, turning the country into a vulnerable buffer state. NATO membership would be permanently off the table, leaving Ukraine isolated and exposed.

And what does Russia get for all this? Sanctions lifted. Frozen assets returned. A seat at the G8 restored. All of it bought with Ukrainian blood and land.

This is how Moscow has always negotiated: make extreme demands, then present your next territorial grab as a “reasonable compromise.” This settlement follows that playbook exactly, echoing the cynical territory swap proposals we’ve seen over the past few months.

A real peace settlement needs to be more than just redrawing maps. It requires acknowledging a basic fact: one sovereign nation invaded another without justification. The international community should act as a court upholding law and morality, not a marketplace where territorial integrity gets traded away. If we can’t hold to this basic principle, we’re not just repeating history’s mistakes – we’re deliberately choosing to repeat them.

This proposed “peace” is the 1938 Munich Agreement all over again. Maybe worse. It won’t be remembered as diplomacy. It will be remembered as capitulation. And appeasement doesn’t prevent the next act of aggression – it provides the blueprint for it.

The real tragedy here isn’t just the potential loss of territory. It’s the moral failure such a settlement represents. Ukraine would lose not just land, but the principle of sovereign self-determination. And in betraying Ukraine, we betray the fundamental promise of international law itself.

The Ukrainian people have proved their courage and resilience. Having already paid such an enormous price – despite the doubts and delays on the part of those who support them – to defend their land, Europe and the free world generally, they will not meekly give way to temporary political leaders who wish to put their egos and interests above principles.

Writing from Kyiv, we appeal to our American friends who have traditionally supported Ukraine: don’t let this potential nightmare happen. Don’t allow your leaders to sacrifice American honor and principles by making deals with a hostile power that wants to destroy not only Ukraine but also undermine democracy everywhere.

History will judge us not by how cheaply we bought peace, but by whether we were willing to defend our principles when it mattered most, whether we really stood together or simply paid lip service to the notion of defending freedom.