Land for Peace: Borders Aren’t Sacred, Human Lives Are

Crimea was part of Russia from 1783 until 1954. In 1954, the Soviet government, led by Nikita Khrushchev, transferred Crimea from the Russian Soviet Federation of Socialist Republics (RSFSR) to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (UkrSSR). .. As of 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, approximately 68% of Crimea’s population was ethnically Russian, while only 16% was ethnically Ukrainian. In a referendum held that year, 97% of voters supported Crimea’s reunification with Russia. The turnout for the vote was reportedly 83%… Unless Zelensky resides in an alternate universe (a possibility we ought not to exclude), he must know that Russia will never agree to any such precondition. Indeed, one can easily imagine that Russia’s people would overthrow any President who was weak or stupid enough to surrender territories Russia acquired at the cost of tens of thousands of Russian lives, even before a peace deal has been struck.  All of this can only mean that Zelensky’s offer to negotiate is not sincere. So why has Zelensky made this phony ‘offer to negotiate’? Moreover, this war is happening less than 800 kilometres from Moscow. Russian forces therefore have considerable motivation to fight, despite Western claims to the contrary.