President Zelensky’s latest suggestions for how to end the fighting in Ukraine are not yet the basis for a peace settlement, but they contain some hopeful pointers towards one. They should form the starting point of the incoming Trump administration’s negotiations with both Moscow and Kyiv.
Two points in particular are fundamental. The first is Zelensky’s acknowledgement that the areas of Ukraine now held by Russia will remain under Russia’s de facto control. There will be no Ukrainian or Western legal recognition of Russian annexations, but the issue will be left for future negotiation.
