Primer: Russo-Ukrainian War and U.S. Peace Agreement
A few weeks ago, the Trump administration proposed a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, assuring that he would not continue to “fly around the world” to be mediator. The deal comes after four years of ongoing war between Kyiv and Moscow and many failed negotiations. Trump’s original deal largely favored Russia and required Zelensky to make many territorial and political concessions.
It included that the U.S. would recognize Russian control of Crimea, a peninsula off the coast of Ukraine. This territory is complicated because it was a part of Russia from 1783 to 1954, when the Soviet Union transferred control to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The two primary reasons for this land transfer published in the Soviet press are that it was an act of goodwill and it made sense due to Crimea’s cultural and economic similarities with Ukraine and their physical proximity. However, Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, hinting at the full-scale invasion that would occur in 2022. The “final offer” also required recognition of Russian occupation in Luhansk, Donetsk, and other territories experiencing Russian military control in Eastern Ukraine.
By agreeing to the deal, Ukraine would also have to agree to never join NATO, which it has been increasingly involved in and attempting to join since the 2000s. Joining NATO would include Ukraine in their “an attack against one is an attack against all” clause, and many officials believe Ukraine’s membership would risk greater conflict with Russia. However, the deal does allow for Ukraine to join the European Union.
If they agreed to this deal, Ukraine was guaranteed a vague outline of security assistance from European and any other “like-minded” non-European countries, however it did not explicitly volunteer U.S. aid. Some parts of Russian-occupied Kharkiv would be returned, and they would be granted full access to the Dnieper River in Southern Ukraine. Finally, the agreement promises financial assistance with rebuilding after the war, but neglects to explain where this funding would come from.
The U.S., by contributing to the mediation of this deal, requested Ukrainian cooperation in the energy and industrial sectors and allowing U.S. control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
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"Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the 2017 G-20 Hamburg Summit (1)" by Kremlin.ru is licensed under CC BY 4.0.