In September 2022, Russia organized votes in occupied Ukrainian areas that were presented as exercises in self-determination. Held in the presence of the Russian army, they favored annexation, but the United Nations deemed them illegal. The same method had already been used in 2014, during the invasion and subsequent annexation of Crimea.
The European plan also provided for negotiations on territorial exchanges, without recognizing the Russian annexations, and required that the outcome could not subsequently be challenged by force by either of the two belligerents.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon relies in particular on the European proposal of December 2025 for peace in Ukraine. According to Reuters, an American proposal at the time envisaged territorial concessions by Ukraine to Russia, while the European counterproposal reaffirmed Ukrainian sovereignty."We do not accept that a peace involving territorial concessions in Ukraine be contemplated without asking the populations concerned whether they agree to find themselves on this side of the border or the other,"he said.