It has been rightly said that what President Trump wants President Zelensky to do would be very bad for Ukraine. Less has been said about how Zelensky could not do the sort of thing Trump put to him on Monday in Washington, even if he wanted to.
An independent modern Ukraine was formed in the 1990s by the break-up of the Soviet Union. The framers of its constitution therefore had the threat of Russia always in mind. They had not thrown off the Soviet yoke only to have it reimposed by a successor regime in Moscow.
Thus Article 2 of the constitution begins “The sovereignty of Ukraine shall extend throughout its entire territory.” In most countries, such a fact could reasonably be assumed; but, in the case of Ukraine, it needed explicit reference because of possible Russian claims, even though Russia had agreed to Ukrainian independence at the time.
Sure enough, in 2014, Russia violated Ukrainian sovereignty by invading and annexing Crimea. Anonymous Russian and Russian-backed forces also began fighting in eastern Ukraine. In response, Ukraine deposed Russian-backed politicians, but the Western powers were too feeble to forestall Putin’s advance on the ground.
On February 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin recognised the existence of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic in Eastern Ukraine as independent states. These puppets were, of course, entirely his own invention. Three days later, his army invaded the main territory of Ukraine and headed, with spectacular incompetence, for Kyiv, retreating well before the tanks could reach the city gates.
In 2023, I visited a Ukrainian army camp in Kramatorsk which, in Putin’s theory, is part of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Its flag lay pinned on the floor; I was invited to stamp on it.
It has been rightly said that what President Trump wants President Zelensky to do would be very bad for Ukraine. Less has been said about how Zelensky could not do the sort of thing Trump put to him on Monday in Washington, even if he wanted to.
An independent modern Ukraine was formed in the 1990s by the break-up of the Soviet Union. The framers of its constitution therefore had the threat of Russia always in mind. They had not thrown off the Soviet yoke only to have it reimposed by a successor regime in Moscow.
Thus Article 2 of the constitution begins “The sovereignty of Ukraine shall extend throughout its entire territory.” In most countries, such a fact could reasonably be assumed; but, in the case of Ukraine, it needed explicit reference because of possible Russian claims, even though Russia had agreed to Ukrainian independence at the time.
Sure enough, in 2014, Russia violated Ukrainian sovereignty by invading and annexing Crimea. Anonymous Russian and Russian-backed forces also began fighting in eastern Ukraine. In response, Ukraine deposed Russian-backed politicians, but the Western powers were too feeble to forestall Putin’s advance on the ground.
On February 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin recognised the existence of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic in Eastern Ukraine as independent states. These puppets were, of course, entirely his own invention. Three days later, his army invaded the main territory of Ukraine and headed, with spectacular incompetence, for Kyiv, retreating well before the tanks could reach the city gates.
In 2023, I visited a Ukrainian army camp in Kramatorsk which, in Putin’s theory, is part of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Its flag lay pinned on the floor; I was invited to stamp on it.