Ukraine Must Lead Its Own Peace Process, Security Analyst Warns

Why Ukraine Cannot Be Sidelined
Philippe Dickinson, deputy director with the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, made his position plain. Europe's role, he argued, should be to back Ukraine with diplomatic, political, military, and economic support while ensuring Kyiv remains at the center of any settlement process. Pressuring Ukraine into concessions is not support, it is a betrayal of the principle that nations have the right to determine their own futures.

Dickinson was equally direct when asked about Vladimir Putin's reliability as a negotiating partner. He dismissed the idea entirely. Recent comments from the Russian leader suggesting that Ukraine should make sacrifices drew a sharp response. Dickinson pointed out that Ukraine has been sacrificing continuously for more than four years, making such demands not just unreasonable but deeply offensive. In his view, the only way to bring Putin to a genuine and lasting negotiation is through unity, strength, and collective force. Allowing Moscow to dictate the terms or shape the agenda of any talks would undermine the entire process before it even begins.

Europe's Broader Role in Ukraine's Future
Beyond the immediate question of peace talks, Dickinson welcomed news that EU member states had approved the opening of the first negotiation cluster in Ukraine's accession process. He framed EU membership not just as a political milestone but as a practical security measure, arguing that deeper integration would make Ukraine far more difficult to threaten or attack in the future.

The conversation also stretched into longer-term questions about European security architecture. When asked whether US nuclear deterrence could eventually be extended to NATO's eastern flank, covering countries like Poland or the Baltic states, Dickinson said Europe should stop dismissing ideas simply because they once seemed out of reach. The past several years, he noted, have repeatedly shown that events once considered unthinkable have a way of becoming reality.