Conventional wisdom holds that a negotiated end to the Ukraine war is neither possible nor desirable. This belief is false.
It is also extremely dangerous for Ukraine’s future. The war is not trending toward a stable stalemate, but toward Ukraine’s eventual collapse. Russia has corrected many of the problems that plagued its forces during the first year of fighting and adopted an attrition strategy that is gradually exhausting Ukraine’s forces, draining American military stocks, and sapping the West’s political resolve. Sanctions have not crippled Russia’s war effort, and the West cannot fix Ukraine’s acute manpower problems absent direct intervention in the war. Ukraine’s best hope lies in a negotiated settlement that protects its security, minimizes the risks of renewed attacks or escalation, and promotes broader stability in Europe and the world.
Russia has passed laws annexing Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts. They invaded Kharkiv and made a run for Keiv and Odessa. Their politicians rant about how Poland and the Baltics are next. You really think anyone’s going to believe that they did all that to keep some territory that they had already occupied?
I just said that as the war drags on Russia is going to conquer more territory - they want their money’s worth.
I think if there had been a negotiation in the beginning for the “Russian speaking regions” that Russia would have stopped. Now that it’s clear there will never be negotiations they have no incentive to stop, and since its clear the West is getting bored with this war they might as well take as much land as they can. The longer the war drags on the more likely it is they’ll just take the whole country.
How many Minsk Agreements did Russia go through, again?
Have a listen to that rambling interview Putin gave Tucker the other day. He thinks all of eastern Europe is “Russian speaking.”
Please, the Minsk Agreements collapsed because of violations from both sides.
This is clearly going nowhere. I’ll leave you with this: there is a reason that NATO and the US will never give Ukraine enough aid to win.