Ukraine’s ten steps for peace development

Ukraine’s battlefield victories, strong stance by international community and Russia’s depleting military capabilities force Kremlin to seek for operational pause at any cost.
Russian occupier forces would then use it to re-group, replenish supplies and relaunch the armed attack against Ukraine on an even wider scale.
All the calls by Russia, either directly or through the third countries, to start peace negotiations serve to that goal.
Kremlin does not want peace. It needs instead a respite.
Russia continues blackmailing Ukraine and the world to reach its goals and to deny Ukraine from its sovereignty and statehood.
Ukraine, to the contrary, is very precise in our vision of future just and sustainable peace.
On 15 November, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented Ukraine’s position on this issue at the G20 summit.
He proposed a clear plan of ten steps to peace that should end the war.
These steps, implemented one by one, or simultaneously, will bring long-awaited and long-lasting peace to Ukraine, Europe and entire world.
The first step is radiation and nuclear safety.
We emphasize that any form of nuclear blackmail is unacceptable. Russia’s aggressive rhetoric and actions in the territory of Ukraine threaten the global nuclear security.
Russian leaders must stop their threats of use of nuclear weapons.
Russia must immediately withdraw all its military from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The station must be transferred to the control of the IAEA and the Ukrainian personnel. The normal connection of the station to the power grid must be restored immediately so that nothing threatens the stability of the reactors.
Ukraine proposed that IAEA missions are sent to all Ukrainian active nuclear plants and to the Chornobyl plant, which has been shut down and is under conservation. Such missions can verify that any hostile activity against Ukrainian nuclear facilities has indeed ceased.
The second challenge is food security.
The right to food is a fundamental right of every person in the world.
We are grateful to Türkiye, the UN and other partners for their support of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was extended for a further 120 days period on November 19. It helped to improve situation with the global food security.
Since July, Ukraine has exported over 10 million tons of food by sea. We can increase exports – Ukraine can export 45 million tons of food this year, including to the countries which have problems with food security.
Russia must refrain from attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and grain initiative should be expanded to Ukrainian ports in the Mykolaiv region.
The third issue is energy security.
Russia carries out terrorist attacks against Ukrainian critical infrastructure, blowing up power plants, transformers, and electricity supply lines. It is trying to deprive millions of Ukrainians of electricity, heating, water and communication.
Russia wants to turn the cold into a weapon during the winter season.
Another goal of this terror is to prevent the export of Ukrainian electricity to neighboring countries, as Russia is interested in the energy crisis.
One of the key tasks for Ukraine is to protect our territory from these attacks. We are grateful to our partners for the supply of air defence and missile defence systems. We insist that Russia must stop its terror campaign in order to prove that it is interested in the peace process. At the same time Russia must abandon the use of energy factor as a tool of hybrid aggression against Europe.
The fourth challenge is the release of all prisoners and deported persons.
Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are being held in the Russian captivity. They are being tortured and executed – such policy of Russia is illustrated by the terrorist act in Olenivka and mass graves, which we have found on the liberated territories near Kyiv, in Kherson and Kharkhiv regions.
More than 11 thousand children, whom we know by name, were forcibly deported to Russia.
Ukrainian citizens are being held as political prisoners in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territory, in particular in Crimea.
We will never leave our people to suffer in aggressor’s hands, and we demand the release of all of them.
The fifth point is the implementation of the UN Charter and restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the world order.
Russia must respect the Article 2 of this document and refrain from use of force against Ukraine.
It must reaffirm the territorial integrity of Ukraine within the framework of the relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the applicable international legally binding documents.
The sixth challenge is withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities.
Russia must withdraw all its troops and armed formations from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
Ukraine’s control over all sections of state border with Russia must be restored.
The crimes of the aggressor, discovered in the liberated territories, demonstrate threats which our people face under occupation.
Ukraine will not leave them alone: we have an absolute consensus on this issue in Ukrainian society.
The seventh point is restoration of justice.
Russian political and military leaders committed the crime of aggression against a sovereign state. Russian soldiers committed countless atrocities and war crimes in the territory of Ukraine. Thousands of civilians were killed by Russia’s rocket strikes and artillery fire, tortured and executed in the temporarily occupied territories. Russian aggression brings not only death to Ukrainian people, but the destruction to Ukrainian economy and infrastructure. That was the reason why we proposed establishment of the Special Tribunal on the crime of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and creation of an international mechanism to compensate for all the damages caused by this war.
The eighth challenge is countering ecocide.
Russian aggression caused large-scale destruction of Ukrainian nature. Almost two hundred thousand hectares of our land are contaminated with mines and unexploded shells. Dozens of coal mines in the territories of Ukraine, which have been under occupation since 2014, are flooded, including the mine in which an underground nuclear test explosion was carried out in 1979.
We must find common responses to all environmental threats created by the war, which is a challenge for the whole world. Ukraine needs support from our partners to solve this problem.
The ninth step is the preventing escalation.
We need effective security guarantees. On 30 September, Ukraine signed an application for accelerated accession to NATO. Ukraine also suggests implementing our proposals on the security guarantees (“Kyiv Security Compact”) aimed at mobilizing necessary political, financial, military, and diplomatic resources for Ukraine’s self-defense. We propose to hold an international conference to agree upon the key elements of the post-war security architecture in the Euro-Atlantic space, including guarantees for Ukraine. The main outcome of the conference should be the signing of the “Kyiv Security Compact”.
The tenth point is the confirmation of the end of the war.
In the end, we need an official document signed by the parties.
This will become possible after all above mentioned antiwar measures are implemented, and when security and justice start to be restored.
Summing up.
Ukraine is not ready for “peace at any price”.
We will not make any concessions or compromises that would involve the continuation of the occupation of Ukrainian territories. This is our unequivocal position and we expect Russia to fulfill the announced conditions.
Only real actions – the cessation of terrorist attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, the withdrawal of troops from Ukrainian territory, the release of all prisoners and deportees – can open the way to peace.
Currently, we do not see such readiness from the Russian side.
Moreover, it has already openly admitted that its missile attacks on critical infrastructure of Ukraine are carried out with the aim of forcing our country to negotiations. But Putin’s regime miscalculated – it will not force Ukrainians to give up their freedom and independence.
Ukraine is ready to continue fighting until victory.
Only Ukrainians will determine when and how to negotiate with the aggressor.
We are grateful to our partners for repeatedly confirming their agreement with this position and demonstrating unity. We hope for continued support of Ukraine and increased pressure on Russia. This is the only way to force the Kremlin to end the war and restore peace.
If anyone is tempted to try to force us to negotiate on the basis of compromises regarding our territorial integrity and sovereignty, they should immediately tell their societies that at the same time they are offering compromises regarding their own security. Any concessions to Russia will definitely encourage aggressor to the next steps.