Explainer: Nato suggestions of giving up territory to Russia don’t go down well with Ukraine
Another row about Ukraine’s future exploded this week, after a senior Nato official said Ukraine could relinquish parts of its territory to Russia and get Nato membership instead.
It was Stian Kenssen, chief of staff of Jens Stoltenberg, to suggest this as a possible solution to end the conflict. He was at pains, however, to stress that every solution would have to be approved by Ukraine.
The military alliance has been thinking about the future of Ukraine, and possible ways to end the war, but has always reiterated it would never take any action or interfere without Kyiv’s approval.
Predictably, Ukraine didn’t take to the idea and Nato was forced to send out a clarifying statement later on. A senior adviser to Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, called the idea “ridiculous”.
“That means deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law and passing the war on to other generations”, he said.
This is not the first misunderstanding between Ukraine and its Western allies. Another row broke out earlier this summer, when UK defence secretary Ben Wallace suggested Ukraine should be more grateful for all the weapons it receives from its allies.
“Whether we like it or not, people want to see a bit of gratitude”, said Wallace back then. He added he had already told his counterparts in Kyiv not to treat him “like Amazon”. The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, made similar comments.
Rishi Sunak was then forced to distance himself from the comments, saying Zelensky had “repeatedly expressed his gratitude to me and to the British people”. Wallace later said that his comments had been misinterpreted.
Ukraine is wary of how even the tiniest sign of faltering in support from its Western allies could change the course of the war. The Ukrainian government has done everything in its power to avoid war fatigue, with Zelensky touring European capitals and meeting leaders to make the case for its country.
Equally, the idea of giving up territory goes against the very premise of its fighting against Russia, which already seized extensive territory during its 2014 invasion of Ukraine.