US-brokered negotiations over a ceasefire appear to have stalled, and the White House has threatened to withdraw from the talks if they do not yield results.
Zelensky is seeking a full and unconditional ceasefire, including in Crimea, which Russia has occupied since invading it in 2014.
But Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko broke ranks on Thursday and said Ukraine might need to cede territory to Russia to end the war.
Vitali Klitschko inspects a multistorey residential building destroyed by a missile attack in Kyiv in January 2024 (Photo: Genya Savilov/AFP)Klitschko stressed that the Ukrainian people would “never accept occupation” by Russia.
Klitschko and Zelensky have long had a tense relationship, with the mayor accusing Zelenksy of becoming autocratic.
Oleksandra Azarkhina, former deputy minister in Ukraine, said that “the things he says just shouldn’t be said out loud” and warned that such a narrative could reward Russia’s actions and encourage future invasions.
Dr Spyros Economides, associate professor in International Relations and European Politics at the London School of Economics, said the comments could be a deliberate attempt to undermine Zelensky.
A Ukrainian serviceman carries a dog out of a house damaged by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv on Thursday (Photo: Evgeniy Maloletkva/AP)Callum Fraser, research fellow at the defence think-tank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said the comments certainly “put pressure on Zelensky to acknowledge this potential reality.”
But Alex Petric, senior analyst on the Eurasia team at the intelligence company Janes, said that “while the comments are not helpful, Zelensky can avoid any fallout by simply referencing the Ukrainian constitution, which in Articles 13 and 17 stipulates that territories and territorial integrity are a matter for the Ukrainian people to decide on.”
Comments could be temperature check on public mood
Economides said an alternative interpretation was that the comments were being used to gauge the Ukrainian public’s response to such an outcome and to inform Kyiv’s stance in negotiations.
“This could be a way of floating this idea to the Ukrainian public, so Zelensky doesn’t have to do it himself; Klitschko can say it and see what the response is.”
However, he said that Trump’s involvement might be dimming hopes of achieving this, as he appears to pander to Putin’s demands and blame Ukraine for the conflict.
square RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR How the Ukraine war could end - in four maps
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Marnie Howlett, lecturer in Russian and East European Politics at the University of Oxford, said that if a deal were considered too lenient to Putin, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians might refuse to accept it.
What land could be given up?
Klitschko, who said he was not involved in the ceasefire negotiations, did not specify which areas of land could be given up, and estimates vary.
Some reports have indicated that the war could end along the existing battle lines. In this case, Russia would keep the large swathes of four Ukrainian territories – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – that it currently occupies but not the entirety of these regions. Moscow would likely also gain formal recognition of Crimea.
However, this is deemed politically intolerable for the Ukrainian Government and its people, as well as being logistically difficult because handing over territory requires a referendum.
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