Zelenskyy’s initial reaction was to call the plan “destructive” because it did not demand the withdrawal of Russian forces. However, Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak said in October that Zelenskyy would be willing to incorporate elements into Ukraine’s own efforts.
Lavrov said at the U.N.: “Those provisions proposed by China and Brazil contain all the right words, such as calls for peace, justice and compliance with international law. Nobody argues that. How exactly they plan to move towards peace, I have not been informed yet.”
Other ideas
Officials are also bandying about other ideas for how the war could be ended. These may not be proper peace plans, but more a way of thinking on how relations between Ukraine and Russia could be structured to permanently stop the fighting.
The Israel model
Amid resistance from countries like Germany to speedily granting Ukraine NATO membership, Western diplomats, and even U.S. President Joe Biden, have floated the idea of copying the Israel model. Israel isn’t formally part of a defense alliance like NATO; rather it is a close ally of the U.S. and many European countries, which supply massive amounts of weapons and also provide diplomatic support. Israel has also developed its own world-beating arms industry.
This has the advantage of not tying Ukraine into an alliance that could drag other countries into a war with nuclear-armed Russia.
However, the model comes with considerable downsides. Ukraine would risk becoming a country living in permanent danger of war. While that hasn’t prevented Israel from becoming an economic success story, the scale of the threat faced by Kyiv is much larger, and might scare off investment — leaving Ukraine as a fragile country unable to stand on its own. That would be mitigated if the EU allows Ukraine to join, which also faces many hurdles.