Jacobin Radio: The Least Unjust Peace in Ukraine? w/ Oleksandr Kyselov

Suzi talks to Oleksandr Kyselov and Alyssa Oursler about what’s being sold to the world as “peace” in Ukraine, and what it looks like from the standpoint of Ukrainians who are actually living through the war. Trump’s 28-point plan for Ukraine — drafted behind closed doors by his real estate ally Steve Witkoff and a Russian sovereign wealth fund chief — reads less like diplomacy and more like a property deal: Russia gets the land, the US takes its cut, Europe foots the bill, and Ukraine is told to choose between surrendering now or surrendering later — with little input in the process.

Ukrainian political analyst Oleksandr Kyselov argues that what’s on the table is not a just peace but an “imperial carve-up,” and that Ukrainians are forced to fight for “the least unjust peace” that can realistically be won today. Then journalist Alyssa Oursler, reporting from Kyiv, describes how Ukrainians are reacting to the plan — from sudden funerals to conversations with leftists and soldiers who say Trump has prolonged the war and treated Ukraine as a bargaining chip.

We ask what a real peace would look like, why Ukrainians fear being forced into this deal, and what international solidarity from the Left ought to mean now.

Read Oleksandr’s Jacobin article, “Ukraine Faces and Imperial Carve-Up”: https://jacobin.com/2025/12/ukraine-russia-war-concessions-trump

Support for Jacobin Radio comes from The Regrettable Century podcast: https://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/220523

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.