re: #278 Jay C

Just to fuck with the Russians, if I were on the UKR side in these “negotiations”, I’d agree to that first term only pending an internationally-supervised election/referendum, to make sure that the Ukrainian people had a say in any agreement.*
No need to speculate on how Zelenskyy would fare in a free election at this point….
On a more-practical level, I think it IS going to be the fate of the Crimea and the Donbas “republics” which is going to be the sticking-point: I am of the unfortunate feeling that Ukraine is going to have to give up any claim to either one or the other to finally end the war**.

* Yeah, letting people have any say in how they’re governed is anathema to Putin (or most Russians), but like I said: “just to fuck with them”…

** THIS phase of it, anyway.

I don’t think Ukraine will, because I don’t think Russia can sustain its war effort for long. It’s army is bogged down and running out of supplies, and its economy is collapsing. I would understand if Zelenskyy caved to such demands immediately to end the bloodshed and destruction, but he isn’t, and the longer this war goes on, the closer we come to what feels like will be Russia’s inevitable defeat.