ISW: Putin may reject terms of Ukraine peace plan at meeting with Vitkoff
2 December 12:26
The Institute for the Study of War believes that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will reject the terms of the peace plan for Ukraine during a meeting with US Special Representative Steve Witkoff.
This was reported by the Institute for the Study of War, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
American analysts point out that on December 1, talks between Steve Witkoff and Rustem Umerov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, continued in Florida. At the same time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the meeting between the US special representative and Vladimir Putin would take place in Moscow on December 2 in the afternoon, and a video report on its beginning would be published on official resources. However, it is unknown whether a report on its results will be published.
“The Kremlin is setting up conditions to refrain from publicly discussing the results of the December 2 meeting between the United States and Russia, possibly in order to obscure Russia’s likely rejection of the peace proposal by the United States and Ukraine,” ISW said.
They also recalled that Russian officials and military bloggers have consistently rejected the 28-point peace plan and its subsequent versions since it was first published in mid-November 2025, but constantly reminded of the unannounced agreements allegedly reached during the meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump in Anchorage on August 15.
“The Kremlin is using the lack of clarity about the Alaska summit to hide the fact that it is Russia, not Ukraine, that is obstructing the negotiation process by insisting on its original military demands,” analysts believe.
They suggest that Moscow is likely to try to repeat this approach during the upcoming US-Russia meeting on December 2 and is setting conditions to hide the details of the talks from the public, probably because the Kremlin will reject the terms of the plan.
“The Kremlin wants to avoid Russia being presented as an obstacle to ending the war in Ukraine if Moscow rejects the peace deal to which Ukraine has agreed. Previously, Russia has rejected several ceasefires proposed by the United States, to which Ukraine agreed,” the Institute for the Study of War summarized.
