NATO-Like but Not NATO? Inside the Secret Ukraine Deal

NATO-Like but Not NATO? Inside the Secret Ukraine Deal

From Daily Story Brief by Instant Media Access

November 21, 2025 · 27 min · Season 1 · Episode 10

About this episode

This episode explores a controversial secret peace plan for Ukraine involving significant territorial concessions and ambiguous security guarantees.

In this episode of Daily Story Brief , we unpack the most controversial “peace plan” yet to emerge from the war in Ukraine—a secretive 28-point framework drafted not in official ministries, but in private jets and back-channel meetings between two unconventional power brokers.The hosts walk you through the origins of the proposal, tracing how U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate developer and personal ally of the White House, teamed up with Russian economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin-linked head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, to build a plan that bypassed traditional diplomatic channels and largely excluded both Europe and Ukraine from the initial drafting process.From there, the episode dives into the core substance of the framework: massive territorial concessions by Ukraine, permanent loss of Crimea and the entire Donbas, a frozen front line in Kherson and Zaporizhia, and even a demilitarized buffer zone that becomes Russian territory on the map. Ukraine would accept strict caps on its armed forces, surrender long-range weapons, and enshrine permanent NATO non-membership in its own constitution, while NATO itself would formally close its doors…

People in this episode

Host: Instant Media Access

Topics covered

  • Ukraine
  • peace plan
  • diplomacy
  • NATO
  • territorial concessions
  • security guarantees

Keywords

  • Ukraine
  • NATO
  • peace plan
  • territorial concessions
  • security guarantees
  • Steve Witkoff
  • Kirill Dmitriev

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NATO, White House

Places: Ukraine, Russia, Crimea, Donbas, Kherson, Zaporizhia

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