Damage Control in the Ruins

Slowly accepting that they must seek a deal with Russia, Ukraine and its Western backers are late to what will definitely not be a party

How do you do damage control when you have already done so much damage? That is the conundrum Western and Ukrainian leaders are currently facing. 

Since the triumphal comeback of former president and now president-elect Donald Trump in the US, it is very likely that he will follow through on his campaign promise to quickly end the proxy war in and through Ukraine.

That is good news, especially for a lot of Ukrainians – and Russians, too – who will, if things work out, not die in a war that could have been avoided in its entirety and has already been decided in Russia’s favor. For Western and Ukrainian leaders, things may feel a little more complicated: As Moscow is winning on the battlefield, to end the war at this stage will require major Ukrainian and Western concessions, going substantially beyond the deal that was on offer in the spring of 2022 but that the West made Kiev reject: Now, Ukraine will lose more territory – beyond Crimea, that is – and its toxic NATO “perspective,” too.