Thomas E. Graham
It was a “simple question,” the moderator told former president Donald Trump during the recent presidential debate, “Do you want Ukraine to win this war?” Trump answered that he wanted to end it and has been pilloried for not just saying “yes.” Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t say yes either, but unlike her rival, she made it clear she backed Ukraine against Russian aggression.
In truth, it is not a simple question. What does it mean to win? There is no shared view in the West or between the West and Ukraine.
From the very beginning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has defined victory as liberating all the Ukrainian land Russia has seized since 2014. That would make his country whole again within the internationally recognized borders of 1991 when Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union. Ukraine’s Peace Plan calls unequivocally for the restoration of the country’s territorial integrity. “It is not up for negotiations,” the plan declares. Polls indicate most Ukrainians share Zelensky’s goal, although attitudes are shifting as the costs of war mount.
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