28 November 2024

Ukraine Should Have Heeded Milley’s Warning

Sumantra Maitra

The day the first U.S. ATACMs from Ukraine landed in Russia, making it the first time in the postwar era a U.S.-guided and U.S.-target-coordinated weapons system landed anywhere within Russian landmass, another bomb dropped without much fanfare but far more significance. Gallup released a poll showing that, for the first time since the conflict began, a majority of Ukrainians want to negotiate with Russia and end the conflict.

Within that group, a large portion wants to cede territory to Russia. “A fair share of Ukrainians who favor negotiating a quick end to the war believe Ukraine should be open to ceding some territory in exchange for peace. More than half of this group (52 percent) agrees that Ukraine should be open to making some territorial concessions as part of a peace deal to end the war, while 38 percent disagree and another 10 percent don’t know,” Gallup reported. To contrast, in 2022, 73 percent of Ukrainians preferred fighting until victory, without, of course, defining what victory is. That has obviously changed.


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