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Ukraine Peace Talks and the Pitfalls of Maximalism in a Multipolar World
How to bring the Ukraine War to a close in a multipolar world.
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As the United States and European nations weigh potential “security guarantees” for Ukraine, discussions have veered toward how to coax Russia into accepting terms for war termination in Ukraine that are more acceptable to the West.

President Trump has pledged that the United States would mirror a European move to impose severe tariffs on countries that import Russian energy — a political lift so heavy that it likely reveals the administration’s reticence to risk pushing Russia, China and India even closer together. Even his more recent comments, highlighting the possibility of Ukraine recapturing territory with Europe’s help, likely represent an attempt to shift responsibility for managing the conflict to America’s transatlantic allies. The limited coercive leverage at the West’s disposal highlights that there is no avoiding a compromise settlement.

In a shifting international order, how can a compromise peace in Ukraine be beneficial for both U.S. grand strategy and the broader world? Going forward, in what ways will maximalist approaches to term-setting need to give way to compromise — and to more dynamic and flexible relations with a variety of actors? And how should the United States and its allies adjust course in the current negotiations?

October 2025
16
11:00 AM ET
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Join us for a timely and important discussion with:

Emma Ashford

Emma Ashford is a senior fellow with the Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center. She has expertise in the politics of Russia, Europe, and the Middle East. Ashford is also a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, and an adjunct assistant professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.

George Beebe

George Beebe is director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute. He spent more than two decades in government as an intelligence analyst, diplomat, and policy advisor, including as director of the CIA’s Russia analysis, director of the CIA’s Open Source Center, and as a staff advisor on Russia matters to Vice President Cheney.

Sarang Shidore

Sarang Shidore is director of the Global South Program at the Quincy Institute. He was also a member of the adjunct faculty at George Washington University, where he taught a class on the geopolitics of climate change. He researches and writes on the geopolitics of the Global South, Asia, and climate change.

Zachary Paikin (Moderator)

Zachary Paikin is deputy director of the Better Order Project and research fellow in the Grand Strategy Program at the Quincy Institute. He is also senior fellow at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy (IPD), a Canadian international affairs think tank. Previously, Dr. Paikin was a researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

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