Ukraine in 2025: can peace talks succeed?

About this episode

The episode discusses the geopolitical implications of the US's shift in stance towards Ukraine and the potential dangers of peace talks that may not restore occupied territories.

In 2025, Ukraine is facing unprecedented pressure from one of its key partners, the United States. The Trump administration has chosen not to act as Ukraine’s ally, but rather as a mediator between Ukraine and Europe on the one hand, and Russia on the other. This shift has fundamentally changed the geopolitical framework of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Around the world, the language of victory has largely been replaced by the language of peace. Yet under current conditions, “peace” often implies that Ukraine will not regain its occupied territories—and such a peace may, in fact, amount to Ukraine’s defeat. In this episode, we explain why this is a dangerous path. We also look back at 2025 and summarize its key developments *** Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine. Guest: Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian journalist and public intellectual, the head of the international department at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, and author of the podcast “L’Ukraine face a la guerre”, “Ukraine facing the war”, in French. *** Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media platform about…

People in this episode

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko

Guest: Tetyana Ogarkova

Topics covered

• geopolitics
• peace talks
• Ukraine
• Russia
• US foreign policy
• occupied territories

Keywords

• Ukraine
• peace talks
• Russia
• US
• geopolitics
• occupied territories
• Tetyana Ogarkova
• Volodymyr Yermolenko

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UkraineWorld, Internews Ukraine

Places: Ukraine, United States, Europe, Russia

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