Graham Sees Territorial Exchange Between Ukraine and Russia as Inevitable, but Only After Security Guarantees for Kyiv
American Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that Russia and Ukraine will have to exchange certain territories to end the war – but Ukraine must receive security guarantees.
The Gaze writes about it, referring to NBC News.
The senator noted that a ‘territorial exchange’ would only be possible ‘after Ukraine receives security guarantees to prevent Russia from repeating this.’
‘We need to tell Putin what will happen if he tries this a third time,’ Graham said, referring to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which was followed by the war in Donbas and a full-scale invasion in 2022.
‘I want to be honest with you: Ukraine will not expel every Russian, and Russia will not take Kyiv, so in the end there will be some exchange of territories,’ Graham also said.
His statement about a possible exchange of territories is a departure from his previous position. In 2023, he stated that ‘Ukrainians understand that wars do not end by ceding territory to the aggressor.’
At the time, the senator also warned that if Putin was not stopped in Ukraine, ‘he would continue to move forward,’ increasing the risk of NATO being drawn into the war.
When asked about these previous statements on Sunday, Graham replied that the US and its allies should continue to supply weapons to Ukraine, deploy some European forces on its territory and develop ‘economic integration’.
Earlier, the European Commission called on Washington not to agree to a ‘unilateral’ exchange of territories during peace talks with Russia on Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte allowed for de facto recognition of Russian control over parts of Ukraine in a future agreement.