The Kremlin will have to compromise on demands it has long insisted on – in particular, many of those that are incompatible not only with the latest 20-point peace plan, but also with the initial 28-point plan. This opinion was expressed by analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), UNN reports.
Details
They recalled the statement by US Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker, according to whom "the ball is now in Russia's court," while the heavy losses that Russian troops are incurring in exchange for "very minor" gains on the battlefield do not push the Kremlin to try to end the war.
The Kremlin has already made it clear that it is not interested in accepting Ukrainian or European counter-proposals to any peace agreement, and Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov stated... that he is "confident" that the proposals made by the Ukrainian and European delegations during negotiations with the US delegation in Miami will be "quite unconstructive" and will not "improve" the previously proposed settlement agreement.
It is indicated that the Kremlin has repeatedly put forward demands incompatible with many of the proposals of the 20-point plan, and has shown that it is not interested in a settlement based on compromises similar to those that seem to be embodied in the latest document.
Putin most recently, on December 19, outlined his commitment to the demands he set out in his June 2024 speech to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: the complete withdrawal of Ukraine from all territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions; Ukraine's renunciation of its aspirations for NATO membership and commitment to neutrality; demilitarization of Ukraine (Russia's demand to limit Ukrainian military in such a way that Ukraine cannot defend itself), denazification of Ukraine (Russia's demand to replace the current Ukrainian government with a pro-Russian puppet government), international recognition of Russia's annexations of four Ukrainian regions and Crimea in international agreements; and the lifting of all Western sanctions against Russia
They emphasize that Putin's demands from June 2024 essentially repeated his demands from the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Kremlin officials also claimed that Russia and the United States reached an understanding based on Putin's demands from June 2024 during the summit in Alaska in August 2025, but no publicly available agreements were made at the summit.
"The Kremlin's constant references to the June 2024 speech and the alleged agreements from Alaska demonstrate the Kremlin's rejection of the proposals outlined in the 28- and 20-point plans to freeze current lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions or in all four regions. ... Russia's demonstrative unwillingness to compromise and its unwavering commitment to achieving its initial war goals from 2022 indicate that the prospects of this peace agreement ending the war currently remain low," analysts summarize.
Recall
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published 20 points of a "basic document on ending the war."