Is the Ukraine deal simply a wish list for Russia

I've been saying for over a year that Ukraine will be forced to give up the Donbas(captured terrain), and agree to stay out of NATO. Putin will also insist that newly installed hypersonic missiles (by NATO states aimed at Moscow) be removed.

The alternative to agreeing to this is for Russia to continue to gain land and eventually install a pro Russian government as was the case prior to 2014.

Whether it's fair or not; those are the choices. Trump's playing it correctly. Pressuring Ukraine and letting Putin know he'll arm Ukraine to the teeth (ergo grind it out) if Vlad doesn't accept a reasonable deal. Eventually, I suspect Vlad will agree.

Here’s the deal

By Sam Sifton, NY Times

Nov 24, 2025

The peace proposal released last week read like a wish list for Russia. It would require Kyiv to relinquish captured terrain and shrink its army. It would bar Ukraine from joining NATO and also prohibit foreign troops from coming to its rescue in a future conflict.

“Right now the American plan is devastating for Ukraine, weakening its ability to defend itself and providing few guarantees of its future,” Julian Barnes, a Times reporter who covers international security, told me yesterday.

The Ukrainians have been outraged, and Volodymyr Zelensky said the proposal was a choice between “losing our dignity and freedom” and losing U.S. support.

That could be changing. American and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva this weekend and began reviewing the plan point by point. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said they were “narrowing the differences and getting closer to something” that both Kyiv and Washington would be “comfortable with.” The head of Ukraine’s delegation said the officials had made “very good progress.”

They’re trying to reach a deal by Thursday, which is the deadline Trump has set for Ukraine to accept the proposal.

Trump’s stance

While the diplomats in Geneva have been seeking compromise, Trump has been lashing out. He posted that Ukraine’s leadership had “EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE” for American military aid and support. (Zelensky posted his own message hours later, expressing thanks “for everything that America and President Trump are doing for security.”)

The exchange took us back to the start of Trump’s second administration, when he and Vice President JD Vance seemed more sympathetic to Russia and publicly berated Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Zelensky later adopted a more accommodating tone and signed a deal to give the U.S. some of Ukraine’s minerals. At the same time, Russia continued bombing Ukrainian civilians, which exasperated Trump. Soon, Trump pivoted and spent much of this year lamenting the obstinacy of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. He ripped Putin and praised Zelensky.

Which means we’ve come full circle.