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The Ukrainian newspaper Strana has published what they allege is the Trump administration's peace plan for Ukraine, currently being circulated amongst European diplomats. The rough outline is apparently as follows (it should be noted that Strana say they are not currently 100% certain of the authenticity but have decided to share it out of public interest):

• Trump and Putin will have a telephone conversation in late January/early February, the results of which will be passed back to Ukraine. If common ground can be found, the next steps can begin.

• Zelensky must revoke the decree forbidding negotiations with Putin.

• Trump, Putin and Zelensky will hold a trilateral meeting in February/early March where they agree the main outlines of a settlement, which will be followed up by special envoys (so Keith Kellogg et. al).

• Trump will not block military aid to Ukraine whilst the talks continue.

• All going well, a ceasefire will be declared along the entire line of contact on April 20th (Easter), and Ukrainian troops will withdraw from Kursk region.

• The International Peace Conference will oversee a formal agreement between Russia and Ukraine at the end of April, which will be mediated by China, the US, various European countries and members of the Global South.

• The end of April will also see the beginning of mass returns of prisoners of war.

• The International Peace Conference will make a formal declaration of an agreement on the war's end by May 9th.

• After May 9th, Ukraine will begin to lift martial law and end mobilisation.

• New presidential elections will be held in Ukraine by the end of August, with parliamentary/local elections to follow by October.

These are the proposed parameters of the peace agreement to be taken to the International Peace Conference:

• Ukraine will formally declare neutrality and renounce their ambition to join NATO, who will for their part approve this at their next summit.

• Ukraine will join the EU by 2030, who will assist in the post-war reconstruction.

• Ukraine will not be required to reduce the size of their army and the US will continue to assist their modernisation.

• Ukraine will abandon diplomatic/military efforts to return the occupied territories, but will not formally recognise their annexation.

• Russia will see some sanctions lifted immediately on the war's conclusion; more will be lifted in 2028 depending on their compliance. All EU restrictions on Russian energy imports will be lifted. However, Russia will also be subject to a (time-limited) levy from Europe to be used for funding Ukraine's reconstruction.

• "Parties advocating for the protection of the Russian language and for peaceful coexistence with Russia" will be allowed to take part in the elections. Laws targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and "promotion of the Russian language" will also be lifted.

• The possible European post-war peacekeeping force is still a live issue; Ukraine obviously wants it but Russia remains vehemently opposed, so further negotiations are required.

"I confess that I like Walt Withman and Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky and Miller. I confess that Sacco and Vanzetti, who have my blood, in US history, are memorable and I follow them. They were assassinated by labor leaders with the electric chair, the fascists who are inside the USA as inside my country."

"I don't like your oil, Trump, it's going to wipe out the human species because of greed. Maybe someday, over a shot of Whisky which I accept, despite my gastritis, we can talk frankly about this, but it is difficult because you consider me an inferior race and I am not, nor any Colombian."

"So if you know someone stubborn, that's me, period. You can with your economic strength and your arrogance try to stage a coup d'état as they did with Allende. But I die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I do not want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia are freedom lovers. If you cannot accompany me, I will go elsewhere. Colombia is the heart of the world and you did not understand it, this is the land of the yellow butterflies, of the beauty of Remedios, but also of the colonels Aurelianos Buendia, of which I am one of them, perhaps the last one."

"You will kill me, but I will survive in my people before yours, in the Americas. We are people of the winds, the mountains, of the Caribbean Sea and of freedom.

"You don't like our freedom, okay. I do not shake hands with white slavers. I shake the hands of the white libertarian heirs of Lincoln and of the black and white peasant boys of the USA, before whose graves I wept and prayed on a battlefield, to which I arrived, after walking the mountains of Italian Tuscany and after saving myself from the covid."

"They are the USA and before them I kneel, before no one else. Lay me down president and the Americas and humanity will answer. Colombia now stops looking north, look at the world, our blood comes from the blood of the Caliphate of Cordoba, the civilization at that time, of the Roman Latins of the Mediterranean, the civilization of that time, who founded the republic, the democracy in Athens; our blood has the resistant blacks turned into slaves by you."

"In Colombia is the first free territory of America, before Washington, of all America, there I take shelter in its African songs. My land is of gold work existing in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, and of the first artists of the world in Chiribiquete. You will never dominate us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom and who is called Bolivar, opposes us."

"Our peoples are somewhat fearful, somewhat timid, they are naïve and kind, loving, but they will know how to win the Panama Canal, which you took from us with violence. Two hundred heroes from all of Latin America lie in Bocas del Toro, present-day Panama, formerly Colombia, which you assassinated."

"I raise a flag and as Gaitan said, even if I remain alone, it will continue to be raised with the Latin American dignity that is the dignity of America, which your great-grandfather did not know, and mine did, Mr. President, immigrant in the USA. Your blockade does not scare me; because Colombia besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world. I know that you love beauty as I do, do not disrespect it and it will offer you its sweetness."

"COLOMBIA FROM NOW ON IS OPEN TO THE WHOLE WORLD, WITH OPEN ARMS, WE ARE BUILDERS OF FREEDOM, LIFE AND HUMANITY. I am informed that you put a 50% tariff on our fruit of human labor to enter the U.S., I do the same. Let our people plant corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world."

Mr. Guterres was speaking at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, the exclusive event held high in the Swiss Alps where senior politicians, Heads of State and CEOs of some of the world’s biggest and most influential companies rub shoulders.

The UN Secretary-General took aim at the theme of this year’s meeting, Collaboration for the Intelligent Age, maintaining that there has been scant proof of either collaboration or intelligence and plenty of evidence that many of the world’s problems are worsening, from conflicts to inequality and assaults on human rights.

Nuclear war is no longer the only existential threat to humanity, he said, pointing to the climate crisis and the “ungoverned expansion” of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

‘Fossil fuel addiction’

Likening fossil fuel addiction to Frankenstein’s monster – “sparing nothing and no one” - the Secretary-General noted the irony that 13 of the world’s biggest ports for oil supertankers are set to be overwhelmed by rising sea levels, a consequence of rising temperatures and sea ice melt, caused overwhelmingly by burning coal, crude oil and natural gas.

A number of financial institutions and industries are backtracking on climate commitments, noted Mr. Guterres.

A move that is, he said “short-sighted, and paradoxically, it is selfish and also self-defeating. You are on the wrong side of history. You are on the wrong side of science. And you are on the wrong side of consumers who are looking for more sustainability, not less.”

Looking ahead to the UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Brazil at the end of the year, the UN chief reminded world leaders that they must keep their promise to produce new, economy-wide national climate action plans well before the event.

Developing countries need a “surge in finance" for climate action, he declared, urging not just governments but all businesses and financial institutions to create robust and accountable transition plans.

AI's untold promise

The next existential threat, AI, is a double-edged sword, Mr. Guterres continued, as it is already revolutionizing learning, diagnosing illnesses, helping farmers to increase their yields and improving the targeting of aid.

But it comes with profound risks if it is left ungoverned: it can disrupt economies, undermine trust in institutions and deepen inequalities, the Secretary-General warned.

The Global Digital Compact – part of the Pact for the Future adopted by UN Member States last September – offers a “roadmap to harness the immense potential of digital technology and close digital divides” with a shared vision of AI serving humanity, not the other way around.

Despite the challenges, the UN will never halt its demand for peace grounded in the UN Charter, international law and the principles of sovereignty, political independence and the territorial integrity of States, he said.

Reforming institutions, from the global financial architecture to the UN Security Council, is, the UN chief asserted, a necessity because systems of governance are often ill-equipped to deal with today’s challenges. But achieving these essential changes – which world leaders committed to at last September’s Summit of the Future - will only be possible with political will, he said, cautioning: “I am not convinced leaders get it.”

The Secretary-General concluded his remarks with a return to the theme of this year’s Davos event, appealing to the global community to face these existential challenges head on and work as one.