Donic: Kosovo model could be applied to resolving the Ukraine conflict

Petar Donic, an associate at the New Third Way organization, believes that it is theoretically possible to apply the Kosovo model to resolving the conflict in Ukraine, but says the problem is that possible solutions to the issue have not been discussed at all. He also predicts that the Republicans’ electoral defeat in both chambers of Congress will have an impact on efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to Kosovo Online, Donic said he did not believe that establishing a ceasefire before discussing the status of the annexed Ukrainian territories would amount to “too little” for Ukraine, but stressed that what followed such a ceasefire would be equally important.

“If a ceasefire is established while issues such as the surrender of territory in Donbas remain on the table, the narrative and the context will be extremely important. If the context remains the same and a ceasefire is reached, the Ukrainians will almost certainly regard that ceasefire as an empty promise, as a carrot intended to induce them to do or concede something further. If the context is different—I am deliberately not going into specifics here because we simply do not know any of the details, not a single detail, about the peace process,” he said.

Donic reiterated that following the congressional elections, US President Donald Trump had only a limited window until the end of the year to see through anything he might initiate. He therefore questioned how much room there was during that period for partial solutions for Ukraine, where expectations remained very high.

“What we know so far is that last year’s peace process and negotiations did not go well because all sides adopted maximalist positions. The Russians expected to receive parts of Donbas that they had not captured. They still have not captured them. There have been three offensives this year, and all three were unsuccessful,” he recalled.