The Way Forward On Russia and Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered Kyiv a truce if Ukraine terminated its NATO ambitions and exits the ethnic-Russian Donbas (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions). Kyiv has rejected his offer, despite this outcome being for the past two years the logical, if not foregone, conclusion to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

I understand Russia’s historical claim to Ukraine. It is undeniable that Kyiv was the first capital of Russia a thousand years ago and that Ukraine was part first of the Russian Empire and then of the Soviet Union until 1994.

However, it is equally undeniable that Ukrainians aren’t Russians. They have their own separate language, culture, and identity. And, under international law, they have had their own sovereign nation for thirty years now.

So, as for territory, yes, let Russia keep Crimea and the Donbas (Kyiv clearly doesn’t like those Ukrainians, as it was bombing them for 8 years before Putin invaded) and any other region in Ukraine that wants to reunite with Russia. Leave the decision to the people. Hold a referendum and let those who live in those regions decide whose citizens they’d rather be. And let Ukraine remain an independent state governing the remainder. 

As for admitting Ukraine to NATO, the stupidest decision taken in the 1990s was to not invite Russia and all the former Warsaw Pact nations to join. Furthermore, we promised Russia that NATO wouldn’t expand Eastward. “Not a single inch” were the actual words of assurance. Look how that’s turned out. Who has been untrustworthy in that regard, NATO or Russia?

Trump should tell our NATO partners that either Russia, Ukraine, and anyone else that wants to join can join, or we pull out and stop funding it. We need to draw Russia into Europe and away from Beijing.

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