Ukraine must be persuaded to give ground to end the slaughter
PRIME Minister Boris Johnson in his recent speech echoed Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in rejecting conceding any Ukrainian territory, including Crimea (“Johnson likens Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to Hitler’s Germany”, The Herald, May 3). Ms Truss says the aim is “to push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine”. Mr Johnson claims any Ukrainian in Russian-held territory is killed.
This aim is probably impossible. If achieved, it would be at the cost of hundreds of thousands more dead Ukrainian civilians, killed by both Russian forces and by Ukrainian forces, who would have to use artillery against Russian artillery in Russian-held cities to retake them.
Nor are all Ukrainians in Russian-captured areas killed. There are horrific and unjustifiable war crimes being committed, as in every war; and Russia continues to shamefully prevent the Red Cross evacuating or providing aid to civilians in besieged cities. Ukraine’s nationalist units and SBU Security Services killed, tortured and disappeared civilians in the smaller-scale eight-year war in the Donbas too, though. And a peace deal could end mass deaths.
The Ukrainians may lose despite Nato’s belated supplies of heavy weapons, which will be hard to get to the Donbas as Russian forces close around it, and bomb bridges, railways and depots on supply routes.
If it looks like Ukraine is winning, Vladimir Putin, seeing his hold on power at risk, might do something crazy, like using tactical nuclear weapons, giving new meaning to Kipling’s line that there are many victories worse than a defeat.
The least bad option might be for Nato countries to quietly, behind the scenes, persuade Ukraine to formally cede Crimea to Russia, along with autonomy for, or cession of, Donetsk and Luhansk, and agreeing to be a neutral country, in return for a Russian withdrawal.
Putin might agree as he could sell that to Russians as victory. If he refused, more Russians might turn against the war, as they would see he had refused to accept a deal that would have achieved most of what he claims to be his war aims.
Duncan Mcfarlane, Carluke.