Expert: Russia May Relinquish Occupied Territories if Military Aid to Ukraine Is Significantly Increased
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement that Moscow would never allow the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity within the internationally recognised 1991 borders. However, this statement is quite controversial. After all, Russia can still be diplomatically persuaded to give up the occupied Ukrainian territories. This opinion was shared by political scientist and international expert Maksym Nesvitailov.
The Gaze reports on this with reference to the broadcast of the FREEDOM TV channel.
‘Firstly, it's ridiculous to hear that Russia will never allow this to happen and that the Russian occupation is forever. I was in Kherson right after it was liberated by Ukrainian troops from the Russian occupiers and saw with my own eyes all the posters they left there saying that Russia is in Kherson forever. ‘Forever’ did not last very long. And I would like to remind Moscow that Kyiv existed for more than half a millennium before Moscow even appeared as a city, and when the whole of Russia was just beginning to emerge. That is why Ukraine will definitely take its course, and it is not up to the Kremlin to decide how it will be,’ Nesvitalov said.
According to him, Russia can be persuaded to take an adequate negotiating position primarily by strengthening Ukraine as much as possible.
‘This could be a kind of land deal from the United States, a multiple increase in support for Ukraine, so that the Russian Federation understands that it has no military prospects of winning this war without the use of nuclear weapons. And maximum economic pressure - complete economic isolation can lead to this. But so far, unfortunately, I do not see any prerequisites for this ideal scenario to be realised,’ the political scientist believes.
At the same time, he noted that fewer and fewer world leaders believe in the Kremlin dictator Putin. In particular, Europe has long been disbelieving in Putin's ‘truces’, which he periodically declares unilaterally.
‘We see a very serious consistency of Europe in this issue. It seems to me that Europe has never been so united and consistent in its position on Ukraine and the Russian Federation as it is now. For example, the future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also says that Ukraine should have the ability not only to defend itself but also to counterattack Russia. No one is fooled. Even the team of US President Trump called Putin's truce a show, and the peace talks between Putin and the dictator only an imitation. I repeat, except for a multiple increase in military support for Ukraine, I see no other chances for Putin to really start to doubt and move towards ending the war. And everything he is proclaiming now is to delay the negotiation process,’ summed up Maksym Nesvitaylov.
As The Gaze reported earlier, the Trump administration delivered a one-page document to Ukraine, labelled as the ‘final proposal’ for a peace settlement. A source close to the Ukrainian government expressed concerns that Kyiv perceives the proposal as significantly favouring Russia. ‘The document explicitly outlines the concrete benefits for Russia, while Ukraine's benefits are only vaguely referred to,’ the source noted.