Zelensky will have to trade land for peace — US political analyst

Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University Peter Kuznick noted that there is no way Ukraine is joining NATO in the foreseeable future or clawing back the land that Russia has seized.

Ukraine’s positions will only deteriorate further down the road, and “everyone knows” that Vladimir Zelensky will have to trade land for peace, said Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University Peter Kuznick commenting on plans to hold a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump in Alaska on August 15.

“Zelensky says he won’t trade land for peace, but everyone knows he will have to. If he doesn’t know it, Ukraine will have to find a leader who does,” the prominent US political analyst and Professor of History said.

“There is no way Ukraine is joining NATO in the foreseeable future or clawing back the land that Russia has seized,” Kuznick emphasized.

According to him, continued hostilities will only mean more death on both sides and Russia “occupying more and more Ukrainian land.” “This is actually the strongest position Ukraine will be in given its shortage of manpower, weapons, strategy, finances, and morale,” the expert noted.

Trump said on Friday that he expects to meet with Putin in Alaska on August 15. The date and venue for the upcoming talks were later confirmed by Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov, who said that Putin and Trump will focus on discussing scenarios of reaching a lasting peace in Ukraine.

Ushakov stressed that the Kremlin expects any follow-up meeting between the two leaders to take place on Russian soil after their talks in Alaska.

Zelensky said on August 9 that the answer to Ukraine’s territorial question already is in the country’s Constitution and “no one will deviate from this.”

Trump explained on August 8 that a potential deal could require Ukraine to surrender significant parts of its territory and Russia to return some land to Ukraine as he warned that Zelensky “will have to get ready to sign something.”