Kiev, Ukraine (AP) – Peace agreement calling for Kiev to accept Exchange Ukrainian territory It’s not just that it’s not deeply popular in Russia. It will also be illegal under the Constitution.
That is why President Voldymee Zelensky explicitly rejected a contract with Moscow, which could transfer the land, after President Donald Trump suggested that such concessions would be beneficial to both sides. His meeting on Friday With Alaska’s Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy said over the weekend that Kyiv “will not give awards for what Russia has done,” and that “the Ukrainians will not give land to the occupyers.” The statement comes after Trump said the peace deal would include exchanging Ukrainian territory from both sides “to improve both.”
For Zelenskyy, such a deal would be a disaster for his presidency Over 3 years Bloody and sacrifices by Ukrainians. Furthermore, changing Ukraine’s 1991 borders is contrary to the country’s constitution, so he has no authority to approve it.
For now, freezing the frontline appears to be a result of the people in Ukrainians who are willing to embrace.
Such proposals include the following challenges:
Russia accounts for about a fifth of Ukraine.
Russia occupys about a fifth of Ukraine. Crimea PeninsulaIt was illegally annexed in 2014.
The frontline is vast and cut across six regions – the active front extends over at least 1,000 kilometers (680 miles), but when measured along the border with Russia it reaches 2,300 kilometers (1,430 miles).
Russia controls almost all of the Luhansk region and almost two-thirds of the Donetsk region, making up the Donbas together, as Ukraine’s strategic industrial center is called. Russia has longed for the region, and has been illegally annexed in the first year of a full-scale invasion, despite having no control over much of it at the time.
Russia also partially controls more than half of the Herson area. This is important because it also has the material flow of supplies entering through the nearby Crimea overland corridors and is part of the Zaporisia region where the Kremlin seized Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
The Russian army also holds territorial pockets in the Kharkov and Smie regions of northeastern Kharkov, which is strategically less valuable to Moscow. The Russian army has gained footing in the Dnipropetrovsk region. These could be things that Moscow is willing to exchange for land. It considers more important in Donetsk, where the Russian military concentrates most of its efforts.
“Several land exchanges will take place, for the good of Ukraine, through conversations with Russia and everyone.
Although Ukrainian forces are still active in the Kursk region within Russia, they have little territories that are not there, and are not as strong as the Kiev leaders probably wanted when they launched a bold invasion across the border last year. Exchange of Russian Ukrainian-controlled territories is not extreme, but will be the only tasty option for Kiev in any land exchange scenario.
Recognizing the land puts another invasion at risk
The territory of surrender will pack up and leave, seeing those who are reluctant to live under Russian rule. Since the 2014 Eastern Ukrainian troops and the full-scale invasion in 2022, many civilians have endured so much suffering and bloodshed.
From a military standpoint, abandoning the Donetsk region in particular would significantly improve Russia’s ability to reinvade Ukraine, according to the Washington-based think tank Institute.
Giving up to such demand would force Ukraine to abandon the “fortress belt,” Donetsk’s main line of defence since 2014, “no guarantee that combat will not resume,” the institute said in a recent report.
Regional lines of defense continue to hamper efforts to seize Russia’s region and to hamper Russia’s efforts to take the rest of the region, ISW said.
The Ukrainian constitution poses major challenges for any transaction related to land exchange, as a national referendum is required to approve changes to the borders of the country’s territory, said Ihor Raiterovich, a political professor at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kiev.
“Changes in territorial integrity can only be made through the decisions of people, not by the president, minister or parliamentary cabinet,” he said. “The Constitution states that only referendums can change Ukraine’s territory.”
During negotiations, if Zelensky agrees to exchange territory with Russia, “at the same time he will abandon the main law governing Ukraine, so he will become a criminal,” Reiterovych said.
Trump said he was “a bit bothered” Zelensky. Weekend claims He needed it Constitutional approval He gives Russia the territory he has been arrested for unprovoked invasion.
“So he has approval to enter the war and kill everyone, but does he need approval to do a land exchange?” Trump added. “Because there will be some land exchanges. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everyone.”
Zelenskyy is trying to regain the trust of those who suffered damage when they reversed the course of law that would reduce the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption clocks. The move was a red line for citizens who protected the country’s facilities and suspected certain members of Zelensky’s inner circle.
Freezing conflict seems less evil for Ukraine
Analysts like Reiterovych dismiss the exchange of land as a distraction. Freezing conflicts along the current frontlines is the only option Ukrainians are willing to embrace.
The option also buys time for both sides to integrate talent and build the domestic arms industry. Ukraine will need strong security guarantees from its western partners to stop future Russian attacks.
Yet, freezing conflicts is also difficult for Ukrainians to accept.
In addition to the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent partial occupation of Luhansk and Donetsk, we must accept that Ukrainian forces are unable to militarily seize lost territory. Kiev accepted that they could not seize these territory, but never formally recognized them as Russians. A similar scenario could unfold in new regions filmed by the Russian military.
It is also not a viable long-term solution.
“It’s an evil option for anyone and doesn’t cause any protests or rallies on the streets,” says Reiterovych.
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Associated Press journalist Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed.
