Kosovo’s model for ending conflict has been proposed by Professor Edward Joseph as a potential framework for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
According to Joseph, a solution similar to UN Resolution 1244 could create a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, with international administration over the Donbas region.
Edward Joseph, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on the Western Balkans, emphasized that this proposal could be acceptable to both sides.
“Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Paris stated that Serbia’s non-recognition of Kosovo is the key problem in the Balkans. We can address this issue in a way that advances a ceasefire in Ukraine, bringing Russia and Ukraine together under a truce and increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin to accept it. There are two steps: the first is the ceasefire, where we can apply a plan that former President Trump mentioned regarding territorial exchange. My proposal is to use the same model that Russia accepted regarding Kosovo—UN Resolution 1244. Using this model, we can provide concrete benefits to Ukraine on one side and Russia on the other. It is a proposal for a compromise over territory in the Donbas region, using the same approach that was applied to Kosovo after 1999, which was somewhat ambiguous regarding Kosovo’s sovereignty under Resolution 1244. Using this model, we could achieve a ceasefire acceptable to both Putin and Zelensky,” Joseph explained.
When asked about the similarities between Kosovo and Donbas, Joseph noted that both involve contested territories and disputes over sovereignty.
“The similarities are clear: contested territories and the central issue of sovereignty. On one side, Russia claims the territory and has annexed it by force. On the other, Ukraine, backed by the U.S., EU, and most UN member states, asserts that this territory is rightfully part of Ukraine. There is a disagreement over a defined area, and a war continues with Russia. People are still dying, and there is no real resolution in the conflict. The goal, as Trump stated, is to achieve a ceasefire, and we can use the Kosovo model under Resolution 1244 to achieve that. The core similarity is the sovereignty dispute—Kosovo claimed to be independent, and the same principle could apply here,” he told A2 CNN.
According to Joseph, these territories could be placed under a status similar to Kosovo’s after 1999, with international administration by the UN and OSCE. This approach would benefit both Russia, which does not currently have full control over the territory, and Ukraine, which would not be forced to give up its sovereignty. The final resolution would be left to the sovereign people through a referendum. He stressed that this is an interim proposal, not a final solution, similar to the approach under UN Resolution 1244.
Professor Joseph also noted that “Russia is the strongest supporter of this resolution, and Putin has insisted that the Kosovo precedent is the basis for recognizing and annexing Donbas and Crimea, using it as an example.”
