A proposal

1. All military hostilities cease on a specific date and a ceasefire comes into force. Both warring parties prevent paramilitary units from operating in the areas under their control.

2. Both warring parties renounce all territorial claims to the areas that have belonged to Ukraine under international law since 1991 and are under Russian military control on the day of the ceasefire. Russia also renounces annexed territories that are under Ukrainian military control on the day of the ceasefire. (A small-scale territorial exchange may take place for better alignment.)

3. Russia and Ukraine aim to establish one or more states with limited sovereignty (SLS states). These states are to be established on the territory that belong to Ukraine under international law since 1991 but is under Russian military control on the day of the ceasefire. Ukraine and Russia express their willingness to establish the SLS states in the form required under international law, e.g. by ratifying a peace treaty containing this objective or by referendum.

4. The establishment of the SLS states requires the consent of the population living there in an internationally supervised free referendum. Eligible voters are all adults who had legal residence in the contested areas territories when they were last under Ukrainian administration. The referendum will be conducted by the United Nations. If the population does not vote in favor, the peace agreement will fail. If it agrees, Ukraine will withdraw from all occupied Russian territories, if any.

5. In the referendum, the SLS states will simultaneously adopt a constitution that irrevocably enshrines the principle of democracy with universal, equal, and secret suffrage. Integral partsof this constitution will include the fundamental rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and the recognition of the rights from the European Social Charter. The protection of private property will be guaranteed in principle.

6. The SLS states are free to organize their internal affairs. Internal affairs encompass all matters concerning civil life that are subject to state regulation, including financial sovereignty and police authority. The citizens of the SLS states shall enjoy unrestricted freedom of travel.

7. The SLS states shall become members of the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. They are free to join other international organizations as long as these serve exclusively civilian purposes. The SLS states are also free to conclude trade and investment agreements with each other or with third countries.

8. In other matters of foreign and security policy, the SLS states shall, for the time being, enjoy only limited sovereignty. In particular, contractual ties with third states require Russia's consent if they contain security policy provisions. The establishment of full sovereignty at a later date requires Russia's consent.

9. The SLS states shall have the right to establish their own armed forces for national defense. The SLS states will conclude a friendship treaty with Russia, granting Russia the right to station its troops and weapons systems in the SLS states. In return, Russia will commit to defending the SLS states against external attacks upon their request.

10. Ukraine (in the following, this always refers to the part under Ukrainian control on the day of the ceasefire) will either become a NATO member or receive equivalent security guarantees from NATO. In the latter case, a later admission of Ukraine to the alliance would require an amendment to the peace treaty. NATO will commit to not stationing foreign troops or deploying weapons systems in Ukraine, nor using its airspace. NATO shall be released from this commitment on the day a military attack on Ukraine is launched from Russian or Belarusian territory. NATO shall also be released from this commitment if the free internal constitution of an SLS state is restricted to a significant extent.

11. Russia pledges that it has no objections to Ukraine's accession to the EU. Ukraine is free to create the necessary conditions for accession to the EU - and primarily to the European Economic Area (EEA).

12. The United Nations shall finance a Ukraine Peace Fund of at least 500 billion euros through loans. They will be guaranteed by UN member states (e.g. in proportion to their pre-war trade volume with Ukraine). The fund will allocate the available funds according to market economy principles, counteract any corruption and ensure equal market access for investors.

13. The resources of the Peace Fund shall be used

- for the repair of war damage and economic reconstruction in war zones,

- to support people who have suffered particularly severe physical or material damage as a result of the war,

- to compensate Ukraine for the loss of assets that become the property of the SLS states (special provisions for natural resources, see point 14),

- to restructure the Ukrainian public debt (see point 15).14. State-owned enterprises and natural resource deposits, whose assets are primarily located in SLS states, shall be jointly managed and utilized by Ukraine and the SLS states. To this end, an organizational structure shall be established that could be based on a model shaped after the example of the former European Coal and Steel Community.

15. Ukraine’s public debt will be restructured using Peace Fund resources so that the payment obligations from the old debt are sustainable for Ukraine in the long term.

16. Russia will commit to returning all Ukrainian children who were taken to Russian territory to their Ukrainian parents. Prisoners of war from both sides will be released. They will have the right to emigrate to a country of their choice.

17. All economic sanctions and travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the war will be lifted. Both parties will waive claims for reparations. They will recognize the Oblivion Clause and the concept of “benevolent forgetting” as the basis for their future relations.

18. In the event of differences regarding the interpretation or compliance with the contract, the parties to the conflict commit to peaceful dispute resolution using one of the diplomatic forms developed for this purpose in international law, possibly with the mediation of neutral third states or an organ of the United Nations.