International Press Review dated 21 April - 2 May 2025
- Anton Kuchuhidze
- May 1
- 6 min read
Last week, major media outlets focused on several key topics. Ukraine is increasingly asserting itself as a leader in the global defence industry. At the same time, Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan, which entails significant concessions to russia, is generating intense discussion. However, experts and policymakers warn that making concessions to an aggressor only increases the threat not just to Ukraine, but to the entire free world.
In an article published by Foreign Policy, the author notes that Ukraine is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s leading defence producers, thanks to the dynamic growth of its private sector. The Ukrainian defence industry has significantly strengthened the country’s competitiveness on the battlefield. Ukrainian companies now supply more than a third of the weapons needed at the front — and at a much lower cost than European manufacturers. The sector includes around 400 private companies and more than 1,500 start-ups. This speed and flexibility allow Ukrainian producers to quickly adapt to shifting battlefield conditions, with product development cycles measured in weeks or months, rather than years, as is often the case in Europe.
International cooperation is also growing. European countries are investing billions into Ukraine’s defence industry. The German manufacturer Rheinmetall is already building factories in Ukraine to produce armoured vehicles, shells, and air defence systems. According to the Bruegel think tank, Ukraine is becoming the "arsenal of Europe."
The Washington Post quoted a NATO general who stated that russia remains a persistent threat to the United States, NATO, and global security. Despite suffering significant losses in the war, russia is still mobilising around 30,000 new recruits every month. The number of its troops at the front has surpassed 600,000 — nearly double the number at the time of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Additionally, russia is producing about 250,000 artillery shells each month, allowing it to amass a stockpile of ammunition three times larger than that of the United States and Europe combined.
Nevertheless, Trump's current peace proposal is considered too favourable to russia. An editorial in The Washington Post argues that this approach is dangerous and could undermine Ukraine's security. According to the plan, the frontline would effectively be frozen. The editorial warns that peace based solely on putin’s promises is a dangerous illusion. His violations of the Budapest Memorandum and the Minsk Agreements highlight the failure of such agreements. Instead, the United States should insist on: a cessation of hostilities; the withdrawal of russian troops to the 2022 borders; an end to support for separatists; compensation for Ukraine's losses; the return of Ukrainian children and prisoners of war; and international monitoring of the peace process. Sanctions should only be lifted gradually, and only after confirming compliance with these conditions.
In addition, according to Le Monde, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that over the next 10 days, the West should increase pressure on russia to help achieve a ceasefire. He mentioned that in a conversation with Trump, he urged a tougher stance against putin and called on the U.S. to send a delegation to Kyiv to coordinate actions.
Peace is only possible if it is fair and realistic. Concessions to the aggressor will only escalate the danger. The United States, as the world’s leading democracy, must remain true to its principles and allies — refusing to recognize wars of aggression and refusing to betray Ukraine, which is now at the forefront of the struggle for freedom and international order.
The arms laboratory that is Ukraine has innovations in progress that are reshaping modern warfare. Interceptor drones capable of destroying enemy reconnaissance drones are already in the field. Add to that the likes of long-range missile-drone hybrids that rely on turbojet engines and function similar to cruise missiles; malware-equipped drones that destroy themselves should they be captured; remotely controlled bombs that move on tracked wheels; and remotely guided trolleys, which can be used to transport casualties from the battlefield.
Moreover, the one-drone model is quickly becoming redundant. So-called drone swarms are the future: autonomous, intelligent networks of multiple drones operated by a single system.
The Ukraine framework appears to contain the kind of ambiguous formulations found in many diplomatic deals, where each side can spin the language for domestic political consumption. That’s normal diplo-speak. But the danger is that this pact will fuzz the big strategic issue of whether Russia poses an offensive danger to the West: U.S. military leaders agree with Europe and Ukraine that the Kremlin is hostile, but the Trump administration sees Russia as a zone of economic opportunity.
Though Europe would provide the military side of the postwar “security guarantee,” the U.S. plan also envisages an American role on the ground — through its operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which would supply power to both sides. This would install Americans near what has been the front line of the war and might provide an American “tripwire.” The same holds for the proposal that the U.S. share profits from Ukrainian minerals and other natural resources. It’s an economic power play, but it also gives America a stake in postwar peace.
In a more perfect world, Trump would then demand that Putin restore Ukraine’s pre-2022 borders by withdrawing Russian troops, end support for the separatist militias operating in Ukraine’s eastern regions, agree to a European military force for monitoring compliance in Ukraine’s border regions, disavow any further territorial claims on Ukraine, agree to pay reparations for the damage to Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, and immediately return all prisoners of war and the Ukrainian children who were illegally abducted into Russia.
If Trump tries to bludgeon Ukraine into accepting this one-sided plan, he will be rewarding aggression and making the world a more dangerous place. America’s European allies are alarmed by the possibility that Putin could interpret this concession as an invitation to further aggression against Georgia, Moldova and the Baltic states. And imagine how it would be seen in Beijing: Xi Jinping might calculate that, if China were to attack Taiwan, the United States would accept the new facts on the ground.
That is an exceedingly perilous signal to send: It increases the risk of a major war in Asia and endangers a pro-Western democracy that produces more than 90 percent of the world’s most advanced semiconductors. The United States should stand by its historical commitments: Don’t abandon Ukraine, and don’t abandon the Stimson Doctrine.
Estonia may contribute a company of soldiers to a potential peace-keeping mission in Ukraine as part of a “reassurance force” led by the UK and France, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said.
Discussions that may lead to forming a deterrence force in Ukraine are still ongoing, Michal said in a statement on Wednesday. Any Estonian deployment would need to be approved by the nation’s parliament.
French President Emmanuel Macron believes the US is open to ramping up sanctions against Russia after he urged Donald Trump last week to get tougher with Vladimir Putin, he said in a Paris Match interview released on Monday.
Macron and Trump spoke about the war and the US peace plan by phone on Wednesday and again in person at the Vatican when the two met on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis, according to the French president.
“I told him once again that we needed to be much firmer with Russia to push Vladimir Putin toward a ceasefire,” Macron said. “I believe I have convinced the Americans of the possibility of escalating threats, and potentially sanctions.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview published on Monday, April 28, that Western allies would "increase pressure on Russia" over the next 10 days and he had told Washington to harden its stance against Moscow. Macron's comments to the French weekly Paris Match came after US President Donald Trump toughened his stance against Russian President Vladimir Putin in the wake of talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis. Relations have been tense between Zelensky and Trump after Washington opened direct talks with the Kremlin to end the war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine is ready to hold direct peace talks with Russia but only after a ceasefire is in place, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, on Tuesday, April 22, amid new US pressure to end the three-year-old conflict. US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is to go to Moscow this week, the White House said, and a US envoy was to take part in new talks with European officials in London on Wednesday. "After the ceasefire, we are ready to sit down in any format," Zelensky told journalists at a briefing a day before the key talks in London on a potential Ukraine settlement.
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