Politics1 min read

'Ceding territory for peace absurd': Zelenskyy says Donbas deal won't stop war

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Ukrainian officials maintain that prior diplomatic frameworks completely failed to protect the country, pointing directly to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum where surrendered nuclear arms yielded inadequate sovereignty protections. That precedent, coupled with the 2022 march toward Kyiv and atrocities in Bucha, reinforces Ukraine's distrust of Moscow's stated goals. Furthermore, Ukrainian leadership rejected vague proposals from American officials that offered arrangements merely resembling NATO protections rather than actual alliance membership. Consequently, Kyiv insists that only clear, binding guarantees can prevent future Russian invasions.

Key points

  • Ukraine firmly rejects trading sovereign territory because non-binding agreements have hi…: Ukraine firmly rejects trading sovereign territory because non-binding agreements have historically invited renewed Russian military aggression.
  • Proposals offering security measures similar to NATO fall short of the enforceable guaran…: Proposals offering security measures similar to NATO fall short of the enforceable guarantees Kyiv deems necessary to deter Moscow.
  • Past events such as the assault on Kyiv and atrocities in Bucha demonstrate that Moscow's…: Past events such as the assault on Kyiv and atrocities in Bucha demonstrate that Moscow's stated objectives cannot be trusted.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Giving up Donbas will not end

Putin's war against Ukraine, but only give him time to prepare for another invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned, predicting that Russian forces could return in a year, two years or even five.

Rejecting the idea of trading territory for peace, Zelenskyy said no security arrangement could be trusted unless it offered Ukraine clear and enforceable guarantees against future Russian aggression.

In an interview with Danish broadcaster DR Nyheder, Zelenskyy questioned the logic of surrendering the remaining Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donbas in exchange for security guarantees, arguing that Russia's past actions had repeatedly contradicted its stated objectives.

He cited Moscow's attempt to capture Kyiv during the 2022 invasion despite initially claiming that its military operation was focused on Donbas and protecting Russian-speaking populations.

"Ceding Ukrainian land for peace is just abstract words. It's not only about reality, even more about philosophy," Zelenskyy said, arguing that Russia's actions since the beginning of the full-scale invasion had shown why Kyiv could not take Putin's stated objectives at face value.

"He kept saying he was defending Russian-speaking…

Politics