There’s Only One Way to End the War in Ukraine
Donald Trump has told Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. ‘Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous war!’ he wrote on Truth Social yesterday. ‘IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE.’ But if the new president wants the war in Ukraine to end, American diplomats may have to open talks with Russia on issues much wider than Ukraine. Russia’s problem, after all, is not just with Ukraine, but with the West. Is there a deal that will make Russia, Ukraine and the rest of the world, happy?
Russia went to war to prevent Ukraine joining Nato, and Donald Trump made it clear in a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron that his administration will not support Nato membership for Ukraine. Moreover, the fact that the Biden administration and every other Nato government has publicly ruled out going to war for Ukraine makes the idea of a Nato Article 5 guarantee prima facie empty.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov recently explained where he thinks a post-war Ukraine should fit within Europe’s security architecture. He said that Russia ‘recognised the sovereignty of Ukraine back in 1991, on the basis of the Declaration of Independence, which Ukraine adopted when it withdrew from the Soviet Union.’
Lavrov added: ‘one of the main points for [Russia] in the declaration was that Ukraine would be a non-bloc, non-alliance country; it would not join any military alliances… on those conditions, we support Ukraine’s territorial integrity.’ Until 2014, neutrality was indeed part of Ukraine’s constitution – although governments in Kyiv had already violated this by seeking Nato membership.