Hal Brands, Columnist

A Ukraine Plan That Would Actually Work

November 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM UTC

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Will Trump stay strong for Zelenskiy?
Photographer: Tom Brenner/AFP/Getty Images

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President Donald Trump’s new peace ploy in Ukraine will likely fail. He has a chance, in the coming months, to craft an approach that might succeed.

Real peacemaking could be possible in 2026, because the strains on Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s economy and army are getting worse. But policymakers in the US, the European Union and Ukraine will have to overcome their own hesitations and weaknesses — or Putin will still be able to settle this war on his terms.