We Have Aces Up Our Sleeve
The so-called 28-point peace plan has surpassed all possible limits of political cynicism. And we do not need to repeat the specific evidence, since the entire world press has been buzzing about it for several days.
However, there is at least one point in the US President’s rhetoric that requires a response not only from the President of Ukraine but also from Ukrainian society. We are talking about the carelessly thrown phrase addressed to Ukrainians: “You have no trump cards,” which, it seems, was easily picked up by Donald Trump’s current team.
You are mistaken, Mr. President! We have trump cards, and our biggest trump card is our national and personal dignity. It is not measured by the size of the territory or the number of nuclear warheads. Its foundation is the human spirit, which shapes our ideas about freedom, truth, and honor. It seems incredible to us that the President of the United States — a country that prides itself on its love of freedom and democratic values — needs to be reminded of this. If it is still necessary, then you have a different deck of cards in your hands.
Our second trump card is the absence of fear. We overcame it in a long struggle for independence. And we overcome it every day, getting used to the vile sound of drones over the trenches or the wailing of sirens in our cities, restraining the pain of the injured and comforting the cries of our children. And we are not ready to submit even to a nuclear threat, because we remember the old truth: it’s not how long you live your life that matters. What matters is how you live it.
Therefore, we fundamentally do not want to accept ultimatums — neither from the President of the Russian Federation nor from the President of the United States. Ultimatums from countries that consider themselves stronger, addressed to those they consider weaker, are a political relic, unworthy of the 21st century. We hope that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team share our conviction that there is a fundamental difference between compromise and submission.
Finally, our third trump card is the solidarity of ordinary Americans, which we constantly see and feel in the protest signs they hold up at rallies. It is this solidarity that is saving the honor of the American people today. Our President was formally correct when he said that today Ukraine faces a choice: to lose its dignity or risk losing a key partner. However, the latter requires clarification: ...to lose the support of the current US administration. After all, the American people have been and remain our partners, for whose support we were grateful even in the 70th and 80th years, when America provided support to the Soviet dissidents. We are thankful for all the assistance we have received to date.
We are not the only ones who feel today that the world is approaching a new moment of truth, when nations will again have to make a fundamental choice between good and evil. Therefore, let us repeat today with faith and hope: God bless America! Glory to Ukraine and its Heroes! God bless this confused and disoriented world!
November 24, 2025
Members of the “First of December” Initiative Group: Olga Aivazovska, Oleksandra Hnatiuk, Volodymyr Yermolenko, Yevhen Zakharov, Iosif Zisels, Myroslav Marynovych, Oleksandra Matviychuk, Yaroslav Yatskiv