'Why Doesn't Ukraine Just Give Up the Land for Peace?'

Why this question is false

The question “why won’t Ukraine give up land?” rests on several false assumptions:

1. That Russia wants only land (and not the destruction of Ukraine)
2. That peace will follow after the “handover”
3. That there are no people on these lands, or that their fate concerns no one
4. That the aggressor has the right to demand concessions from the victim

Let us address each of these.

Russia wants not land but the destruction of Ukraine

What Putin himself says

• July 2021 (essay): “Russians and Ukrainians are one people” — meaning the Ukrainian people do not exist
• February 2022 (speech): “Ukraine is an inseparable part of our own history”
• September 2022: annexation of 4 regions that Russia does not even fully control — meaning the claims have no limits
• December 2021 (ultimatum): demand to withdraw NATO from all countries that joined after 1997 — meaning the issue is not only about Ukraine

The article “What Russia Must Do with Ukraine”

In April 2022, the state agency RIA Novosti published a programmatic article by Timofei Sergeytsev openly describing plans:

• “De-Ukrainisation” — destruction of Ukrainian identity
• “Re-education” of the population — forced Russification
• Elimination of the name “Ukraine”
• “Punishment” of all who supported independence

This is not about Crimea or Donbas. It is about the destruction of Ukraine as a nation.

The historical lesson: Munich 1938

The idea of “giving up a little land for the sake of peace” has already been tested in history:

30 September 1938 — Britain and France agreed to give Hitler the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. Prime Minister Chamberlain returned from Munich declaring “peace for our time.”

What happened next:

• March 1939 — Hitler occupied all of Czechoslovakia
• September 1939 — Hitler attacked Poland → the start of the Second World War
• Result: 50–70 million dead

The story with Russia repeats this scenario:

• 2008 — Russia invaded Georgia (Abkhazia, South Ossetia) → the world stayed silent
• 2014 — Russia annexed Crimea → sanctions, but without serious consequences
• 2014–2022 — war in Donbas → the “Minsk agreements,” which Russia used to prepare for invasion
• 2022 — full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Every concession to the aggressor did not stop him — it encouraged him to take the next step.

What is happening in the occupied territories?

“Giving up land” is not an abstraction. It means surrendering millions of people to a regime that does the following:

Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel (March 2022)

After Russian forces withdrew from around Kyiv:

• Hundreds of civilian bodies in the streets, many with bound hands
• Evidence of systematic executions — shots to the back of the head
• Evidence of mass sexual violence
• Destruction of civilian infrastructure and looting

Mariupol

• A city of 450,000 inhabitants destroyed almost entirely
• Bombing of a maternity hospital (9 March 2022)
• Bombing of a theatre with “CHILDREN” written outside (16 March 2022) — over 300 dead by various estimates
• According to Mariupol city authorities, over 20,000 civilians were killed

Occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions

Documented:

• Filtration camps — mass screening of the population with torture
• Forced passportisation — issuing Russian passports under coercion
• Abduction and torture of activists, journalists, local officials
• Russification of schools — ban on teaching in Ukrainian
• Deportation of children — over 19,000 children taken to Russia (ICC arrest warrant for Putin)

Occupied Donbas (2014–2022)

Eight years of occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk showed:

• Economic collapse — enterprises shut down, no jobs
• Forced mobilisation — men seized on the streets and sent to the front
• Destruction of Ukrainian education and culture
• Total FSB control, disappearance of dissenters

Why Zelensky “doesn’t want peace”

Zelensky wants peace. But he wants a just peace, not capitulation:

What Ukraine proposes

Zelensky’s “Peace Formula” (November 2022) includes 10 points:

1. Nuclear safety
2. Food security
3. Energy security
4. Release of prisoners and deported children
5. Restoration of territorial integrity
6. Withdrawal of Russian forces
7. Restoration of justice (tribunal)
8. Environmental safety
9. Prevention of escalation
10. Confirmation of the end of the war

These are reasonable and moderate demands. None of them is aggressive — Ukraine is not demanding Russian territory.

What Russia demands

Putin’s demands (June 2024):

• Ukraine renounces Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions (including territories Russia does not fully control!)
• Ukraine never joins NATO
• Ukraine reduces its army to a minimum
• Lifting of all sanctions against Russia

These are not conditions for peace — they are conditions for capitulation that would strip Ukraine of sovereignty and security.

The “people are dying” argument

Yes, people are dying. That is precisely why:

• The guilty party for the deaths is Russia, which launched the invasion — not Ukraine, which is defending itself
• Stopping the deaths is within Russia’s power alone — by withdrawing its forces
• Capitulation will not save people — occupation brings terror, deportations, filtration camps
• Residents of Mariupol, Bucha, Irpin were not saved from war — they became its victims precisely under occupation

Asking “why won’t Ukraine surrender for the sake of peace?” is the same as asking a robbery victim “why don’t you just hand everything over voluntarily?” The criminal is the one who attacks — not the one who defends themselves.

The position of Ukrainian society

According to sociological surveys (KIIS, Rating, 2023–2024):

• 85–90% of Ukrainians consider any territorial concessions unacceptable
• 70–80% believe in victory
• Less than 10% are prepared for territorial compromises

This is not “Zelensky doesn’t want peace.” These are 44 million Ukrainians who do not want capitulation. And they have every right to feel that way.