Give up land for peace, says bishop as PM insists that Kyiv stands firm

UKRAINE should give up territory to secure a ceasefire from Russia, a senior bishop said yesterday as the Church of England put itself on course for a fresh row with the Government. The Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, the Church’s lead on foreign affairs, intervened as Boris Johnson warned that Ukraine should not be strong-armed into a “bad peace” that resulted in it surrendering “chunks” of territory. Bishop

Baines said the price of peace could be Russia’s annexation of the eastern Donbas region. The Kremlin has already illegally annexed Crimea.

The bishop said the Government’s objectives in Ukraine were “unclear” and claimed that Vladimir Putin could eventually be convinced to give back occupied lands in return for the easing of sanctions.

He criticised sanctions as a “blunt instrument” and warned that “imposing punitive measures which affect all Russians, whatever their view, risks provoking resentment and fuelling nationalism”. In documents published ahead of next month’s meeting of the General Synod, he said it would be “morally problematic” to oppose a “reasonable” ceasefire to gain “advantage through a protracted conflict”.

The Church of England last night insisted that this was “not the view of the Church”, adding that “the territorial integrity of Ukraine is without question”.

The Prime Minister, who is in Rwanda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, said he would urge Western leaders not to exert pressure on Kyiv to make peace at upcoming Nato and G7 summits. Mr Johnson said: “Now is not the time to settle and encourage the Ukrainians to settle for a bad peace, for a peace for which they are invited to give up chunks of their territory in return for a ceasefire. I think that would be a disaster. It would be a trigger for further escalation by Putin whenever he wanted. That would do much further economic damage to the world.”

There are suspicions in Kyiv that France and Germany want a quick ceasefire because of their economic links to Russia.

Last month, Volodymyr Zelensky said the French president had sug

‘Punitive measures which affect all Russians, whatever their view, risks provoking resentment’

gested he would have to give up some land to secure a peace deal, which the Ukrainian leader rejected.

On a visit to Kyiv last week, the leaders of France, Germany and Italy insisted that it was for Ukraine alone to decide on the terms of a peace deal.

Mr Johnson said there was “a lot of Ukraine fatigue now in the world” even though he knew “they are going to win”. He admitted that Ukrainian refugees could be sent to Rwanda under its migration plan if they ignored legal routes and illegally crossed the Channel in boats.

“If you come here illegally, you’re undermining all those who come here legally,” he said, “yes, in theory that could happen but I think it’s very unlikely.” In April, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, criticised the Government’s plan to send some asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda as being “the opposite of the nature of God”.

The attack provoked the rage of some MPS, who claimed that church and state had long since been separated. EU leaders approved Ukraine and Moldova as candidate countries to join the bloc at a historic European Council in Brussels yesterday. Candidate status is the first step on a long journey that could take decades and will involve tough negotiations and painful reforms.

The EU held summit talks with six western Balkan countries which already have candidate status before the European Council meeting.

“North Macedonia is a candidate since 17 years if I have not lost the count. Albania since eight,” Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania, said.

Albania’s progress has been blocked by EU member Bulgaria.berlin yesterday triggered the second of its threephase emergency gas plan after Russia reduced energy deliveries to Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Industry is being asked to use less natural gas and Berlin is turning to more polluting coal as tensions escalate with Moscow.

A Church of England spokesman said of Bishop Baines’s comments: “This is a discussion paper for Synod that notes potential long-term scenarios highlighted in some quarters regarding Ukraine … As the paper says clearly, the long term goal should be that Ukraine controls all its territory.”