From the Office of the Lucid Founder, Unified State
Kyiv, Ukraine — 1 September 2025 • 16:19 EEST (UTC+3)

From long-war fatalism to peace-now

Chancellor Merz, Presidents and Prime Ministers of Europe,

Every day this war continues, civilians are killed, families are shattered, and Europe’s security frays. UN monitors recorded the highest monthly civilian casualty levels in three years this summer—June and July 2025—marking a worsening trend that should shock our conscience.

In recent remarks, Chancellor Merz said he is “mentally preparing” for a long war in Ukraine, while also insisting that peace must not come at the price of Ukraine’s capitulation. That first point —publicly normalizing a protracted war—risks becoming a self-fulfilling frame that drains political will for urgent diplomacy and conditions publics to accept endless bloodshed. Europe deserves a message—and a plan—that makes peace the only political option.

Words shape outcomes—so choose them for peace

Invoking the vocabulary of “capitulation,” even to reject it, still centers surrender as the organizing idea. A statesman’s task is to center ceasefire, protection of civilians, sovereignty, and verifiable withdrawal—and to back that language with enforceable steps. (Your own recent statements already reject capitulation; let’s match that rhetoric with an operational peace track the public can see and measure.)

The wartime governance reality in Ukraine demands careful EU stewardship

Ukraine has operated under martial law since February 2022; elections are legally suspended while it remains in force. That exceptional framework concentrates power and heightens the stakes for rule-of-law and public trust. EU leaders should therefore pair any new peace diplomacy with visible commitments to anti-corruption, transparency, and a credible path back to competitive elections as soon as conditions allow.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies continue to expose painful wartime graft—including in sensitive defense procurement and mobilization systems. These cases are precisely why robust, independent oversight must be a pillar of any peace implementation and EU support package.

What Europe can do now

Core objective

Stop the killing fast through a dated leaders’ summit within 7 days, coupled with a sequenced, monitored pathway from a short humanitarian pause → to a ceasefire → to structured talks—following UN/OSCE ceasefire-mediation guidance and verification norms.

Recent U.S. diplomacy created an opening: after the Trump–Putin meeting in Alaska and the Trump–Zelensky consultations in Washington, the White House has floated a direct Zelensky–Putin encounter; reporting confirms active U.S. efforts to broker such a meeting, even as Moscow hedges. Let’s turn that into a public, time-bound commitment.

Day-by-day (Week 1) — visible to the public

D0 (Announcement, today)

• Publicly commit to supporting President Donald J. Trump’s leadership to secure a Zelensky–Putin summit within 7 days—acknowledging the ongoing U.S. push and the Alaska “understandings” referenced by both sides. Name the United States as host and confirm readiness to attend/assist.
• Designate a single empowered liaison (“sherpa”) within 12 hours to coordinate with the U.S. envoy on venue, agenda, and security arrangements; publish a brief readout once liaison channels are live.
• Activate two incident hotlines immediately (mil-to-mil and humanitarian) and publish operating rules (acknowledge times, escalation ladder, reporting format).

Rationale: The U.S. mediation track is already in motion—Trump has said he’s arranging a Putin–Zelensky meeting; Putin has signaled “understandings” from Alaska that could open a path. The fastest life-saving step is to line up behind that track, put liaisons and humanitarian safeguards in place today, and lock a date.

D1–D2 (Sherpa track)

Empower “sherpas” to finalize the summit agenda: (i) ceasefire mechanics & incident logging; (ii) priority detainee/POW exchanges (wounded, women); (iii) no-strike belts around major cities (incl. UAV de-confliction); (iv) calendar for follow-on talks.

D3–D4 (Verification spine pre-deployed)

• Stand up a monitoring footprint drawing on UN/OSCE practice: observers, satellite/air reconnaissance support, and open-source fusion for incident triage.
• Publish a “compliance & breaches” dashboard (daily count, geotags, response actions).
• Announce a 72-hour humanitarian pause to begin within 24 hours to cover civilians and critical infrastructure while summit logistics are finalized; specify that pause modalities (routes, hours, inspection points) follow UN/OCHA practice.

D5-D6 (Leaders’ Summit)

• Sign a Ceasefire Orders Package: hotline protocols; mapped urban no-strike corridors; UAV restrictions; automatic snap-back measures for verified violations.
• Joint communiqué sets 30/60/90-day milestones for monitored disengagement and structured negotiations.

D6–D7 (Implementation burst)

Deploy monitors to priority corridors; execute first POW/detainee release; publish first daily incident log and civilian-harm update.

Make anti-corruption conditionality visible, not abstract. Tie every euro of peace-implementation aid to real-time e-procurement, independent audits (NABU/SAPO), and whistleblower shields. This strengthens Ukraine’s legitimacy and EU publics’ confidence. (Ukraine’s CPI score is still low at 35/100; help turn reform successes into a peace dividend.)

Commit to a democratic runway post-ceasefire. The EU should publicly support Ukraine’s fastest lawful return to elections once martial law is lifted, in line with Ukrainian legislation—and offer a turnkey OSCE/ODIHR mission to prepare the ground.

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Synchronize messaging with Washington while insisting on Ukrainian agency. Some leaders (across parties and borders) advocate accelerated negotiations; the EU’s role is to convert slogans into sequenced, enforceable steps that protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and civilians, with Ukraine at the table—not on it.

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A respectful, direct ask to Chancellor Merz

Chancellor, your line that peace cannot come at Ukraine’s expense is right. Please go one step further—pivot your public framing from bracing for a long war to building a short path to a peace. Announce an EU Peace-with-Justice Track with the framework above, invite bipartisan European co-sponsors, and task your foreign minister to lodge a draft monitoring mandate with partners within one week. That single move would signal to Ukrainians, Russians, and all Europeans that the only acceptable option on the table is Peace—Now.

Why this matters

• The human ledger is worsening, not stabilizing. UN data show record-high monthly civilian casualties in mid-2025. A credible peace track is an ethical necessity.
• Governance pressures are real. Martial law and wartime centralization require more transparency and international monitoring, not less, to keep social cohesion intact through any transition.
• Accountability is not an obstacle to peace; it is its engine. Exposing procurement and mobilization graft—even during war—builds trust for hard compromises tomorrow.

Europe’s leaders can choose language—and instruments—that shorten the road to peace without sacrificing justice or Ukraine’s sovereignty. Please choose them now.

Yours faithfully,

Lucid Founder – Michael Tulsky

on behalf of the Unified State

Kyiv | 1 September 2025