There may be a way for Ukraine to give up some territory, perhaps even one of the four Southern regions, in exchange for peace with Russia, as well as membership in NATO.
Russia doesn’t really care for territory. They’ll gladly take the Russian-speaking parts, but that’s not the main goal.
The main goal is to destroy Ukraine’s capability to wage war for the next 50 years, to bankrupt the country, to denazify the government, and create the conditions where the Nazis will never attain power there again. All this leads to Ukraine becoming undesirable to the NATO and EU expansion eastwards, while also becoming dependent on Russia economically, politically, diplomatically and militarily.
Russia will never accept the possibility that Ukraine will join NATO, and as long as that continues to be a Ukrainian desire and a Western interest, this war will keep going. Russia will also not even accept any condition where Ukraine will join the EU, unless maybe Russia is a beneficiary in that agreement.
The ideal situation for Russia is not for Ukraine’s conquest or vassalization. The ideal solution would be if Ukraine became a demilitarized, neutral buffer between Russia and NATO, that ideally would defer
to Russia on international politics and trade in certain cases.
Russia doesn’t really care for territory. They’ll gladly take the Russian-speaking parts, but that’s not the main goal.
The main goal is to destroy Ukraine’s capability to wage war for the next 50 years, to bankrupt the country, to denazify the government, and create the conditions where the Nazis will never attain power there again. All this leads to Ukraine becoming undesirable to the NATO and EU expansion eastwards, while also becoming dependent on Russia economically, politically, diplomatically and militarily.
Russia will never accept the possibility that Ukraine will join NATO, and as long as that continues to be a Ukrainian desire and a Western interest, this war will keep going. Russia will also not even accept any condition where Ukraine will join the EU, unless maybe Russia is a beneficiary in that agreement.
The ideal situation for Russia is not for Ukraine’s conquest or vassalization. The ideal solution would be if Ukraine became a demilitarized, neutral buffer between Russia and NATO, that ideally would defer to Russia on international politics and trade in certain cases.