We Will Never Agree to That

Ivan Sichen

The world’s leading countries and international organizations seek to stop the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, taking into consideration Ukrainian interests. Politically, such efforts include promoting the implementation of V. Zelenskyi’s Peace Formula, as well as finding opportunities to provide security guarantees to Ukraine. Currently, most of our partners have constructive positions on these issues, which is confirmed both at the national level and within the framework of various collective measures, including at the meetings of G7, NATO and EU leaders. Illustrative was also the summit in Saudi Arabia in early August 2023 on the principles of restoring sustainable and just peace for Ukraine.

At the same time, there are other proposals that also provide for restoring peace in Ukraine and ensuring its security, but contradict the strategic goals and basic principles of our country’s policy. In particular — about the possibility that Ukraine will give up some of its territories, but at the same time will have the opportunity to join the Alliance. Such statements cause a significant negative resonance in Ukraine and were condemned at the official level. And some perceived them as the position of the whole NATO. But this is not at all the case. The leadership of the North Atlantic Alliance stands firm in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but is really considering various options for ensuring peace of Europe. Let’s try and analyze this issue.

To begin with, it is necessary to clearly understand the objectives of the actions of the United States, NATO, the EU and our other partners as part of their response to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Based on the analysis of the interests of these countries and international organizations, the main ones are the following:

• to weaken as much as possible the Russian Federation as the main adversary of the West, to undermine its military potential, as well as to deter the aggressive actions of the Putin regime and its external expansion;
• to ensure peace, stability and security of Europe in the long term and to prevent the spread of the negative consequences of the war to other regions (the war has really engulfed almost the whole world);
• to prevent a food crisis in Africa and Asia by resuming unhindered grain exports from Ukraine by the most efficient sea route (Russia cannot block the work of our seaports with its Black Sea Fleet, but is trying to destroy them with missile and UAV strikes).

This is what determines the democratic civilized world’s attitude to Ukraine in terms of providing it with comprehensive assistance in the military confrontation with Russia. In general, all such circumstances meet the interests of our state and we are grateful to all our partners for their help. Although they sometimes sacrifice us out of their own interests. From this also come those initiatives of some Western politicians and officials, which imply the exchange of Ukrainian territories for bizarre prospects of Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

Someone else’s pain is not one’s own. Even in the current situation, when we mean Russia’s war against Ukraine with all our losses. Of course, we will not agree on any of the proposals that contradict the strategic and national goal of liberating the entire Ukrainian territory. But let’s consider some facts from recent history. Especially as they are used by the initiators of such proposals as a precedent in attempts to impose some thoughts on us.

Firstly, let us recall the experience of Germany’s accession to NATO in 1955. As a result of long and difficult negotiations, the parties then agreed that Germany would join the North Atlantic Alliance without extending to it Article 5 of the Washington Treaty on collective defense (meaning the status of East Germany occupied by Soviet troops). This is again well known, however, let us recall this fact.

After the end of World War II, units of the German Wehrmacht that remained in the western territories of Germany after its occupation by the United States, the United Kingdom and France were not only disbanded, but also formed the backbone of the new German army. Even military uniform has remained almost unchanged to nowadays.

The new German army became the basis for the defense of the West from the threat of armed aggression from the former Soviet Union. In addition to it, there were stationed American, British and French troops. West Germany was indeed occupied by the Allies. Although in the postwar years they were responsible for its security from the threat that could come from the Soviet side.

Most of the territorial integrity of Germany was restored after the collapse of the USSR. The Soviet Union was forced to return eastern part of Germany, which was captured by the Red Army in 1945. In October 1990, Germany was reunited.

The exception so far is East Prussia. Now it is called Russia’s Kaliningrad region. But its territory will definitely return to the German lands. Moreover, because of Putin’s war against Ukraine, our enemy — Russia — is already beginning to disintegrate. And most Russians living in Kaliningrad region do not mind returning to Europe.

Another such precedent was the war of the USSR against Finland in 1939–1940. Then France and the United Kingdom persuaded, and in fact forced Finland to abandon resistance to the Soviet Union and give away its territories to it. Finland regained them already in 1941, when it entered the war against the Soviet Union on the side of Nazi Germany. By the way, then the United States congratulated Finland on the restoration of its territorial integrity, although the USA sided with the USSR.

Finland again lost its territories when, together with Germany, it was defeated in the war. However, it has the opportunity to regain them once again. Putin’s war against Ukraine has already begun to destroy Russia from within. Unfortunately, its collapse is not so close as we would like, but not too far either. It is obvious that Moscow will lose the war.

No matter how difficult it was for us, we forced Russia’s troops to move from strategic offense to defense. And this was a powerful blow to V. Putin’s reputation, along with his ideas of the revival of the Soviet Union. Especially after they had been imposed on Russians for decades in the form of chauvinistic and neo-imperial slogans. The Russian masses do not forgive failures and defeats in the war. Thus, the war lost by Russia with Japan caused mass riots in 1905. And failures in the First World War led to a revolution in the Russian Empire and its collapse as a result of the revolution in 1917.

The same can be expected now, when Russia (for a year and a half) has been unable to do anything with Ukraine, which it considered incapable of resisting Putin’s aggression. As promised by Russian propaganda, “Ukrainian army will immediately surrender”. It didn’t. This was the reason for the failures of the Russian war against Ukraine. Instead of rallying Russians around Putin’s regime, the war, on the contrary, has only caused a deep rift in the Russian society. This created the basis for the collapse of Russia and the return of the territories seized by it to their true masters.

The same applies to Finland. It will definitely regain the city of Viipuri (Vyborg) and the Karelian Isthmus near St. Petersburg. Moreover, it will return the historical Finnish lands in the north of Russia. By the way, even before the emergence of Muscovy, the Finno-Ugric tribes lived throughout its current territory up to the Volga River. Therefore, Finland has many prospects in such a case… Let’s hope that it will implement them, especially after joining NATO.

Some Western politicians try to extend such historical precedents to Ukraine, but they do not always understand our realities.

Ukraine is not a member of NATO and, unfortunately, will not become one in the near future. Therefore, in addition to military assistance, we will not have security guarantees, which Germany once received and Finland will be able to receive quickly enough.

But that’s not all. We will be able to defend the all our lands. This fact is no longer a patriotic slogan, but an understandable reality. But unlike Germany and Finland, for whom the territories occupied by the USSR (de facto by Russia) were important, but not critical, for Ukraine the situation is completely different.

Russia’s occupation of the south of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and left-bank parts of Kherson regions deprived us of access to the Sea of Azov with all its ports, where the bulk of Ukrainian metallurgical products were shipped. Most of our metallurgical enterprises remained there, which were also destroyed by the Russian invaders.

We will rebuild them. And will make Mariupol metallurgical plants even better and more high-tech than they were before Russia’s aggression. But for this we need to liberate Mariupol and the rest of the Azov region. We have enough strength for this. We are confidently advancing in the Mariupol, Berdiansk and Melitopol directions.

As President of Ukraine V. Zelenskyi said, we will not conduct any negotiations that provide for the exchange of our territory. The only document on the basis of which peace negotiations can take place is the Ukrainian Peace Formula.