Sachs proposes Ukraine-Russia peace plan with UN guarantee — SkimNews
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- Jeffrey D. Sachs proposes a single-package Ukraine-Russia settlement adopted by UN Security Council vote under Chapter VII, jointly guaranteed by the five permanent Council members plus other states, with no element negotiated in isolation and no concession made before signature
- Ukraine would adopt permanent neutrality through a constitutional law modeled on Austria's 1955 law, joining no military alliance and hosting no foreign bases; the North Atlantic Council would simultaneously withdraw the 2008 Bucharest pledge and declare no further NATO membership in Eastern Europe or the South Caucasus
- An armistice line drawn along the line of contact at signature would leave neither side recognizing the other's territorial claims and both renouncing force; the part of Donetsk currently held by Ukraine would become a demilitarized special zone with no Russian entry
- Russia would withdraw from Dnipropetrovsk, the Kinburn Spit, and areas it holds in Kharkiv and Sumy regions, with a Northern Security Zone demilitarized on both sides of the border and a demilitarized belt plus mutual force ceilings along the armistice line
- The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant would remain under Russian control with IAEA safety oversight, selling an agreed share of electricity to Ukraine at cost, while Black Sea and Sea of Azov commercial navigation would be free for all Ukrainian and Russian ports
- Sanctions would be lifted during 2027, Russia's immobilized sovereign assets released, and an EIB-administered reconstruction fund would finance rebuilding on both sides of the line with contributions from all parties including Russia, rather than as reparations
- NATO and Russia would agree on a moratorium on ground-launched intermediate-range missiles in Europe, restore the NATO-Russia Council, and convene the first OSCE summit since 2010, which Sachs says Europe has been largely absent from designing
Why it matters: Sachs frames the package as addressing the war's causes rather than symptoms by binding Ukrainian neutrality, NATO's withdrawal of its 2008 eastward-enlargement pledge, Ukrainian EU candidacy, and 2027 sanctions relief into one UN Chapter VII act with joint P5 guarantees — a structure requiring the Verkhovna Rada and Russian Federal Assembly to ratify simultaneously rather than operate as a temporary ceasefire.
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