In the four years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation,” Ukraine and its foreign supporters have consistently framed their objectives in the language of territorial integrity. During the first year of fighting, Western officials explicitly called for the restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty over all its internationally recognized territory, including Crimea and the part of the Donbas that Russia has controlled since 2014. This theory of victory, which was always implausible, collapsed after the failure of Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive. Since then, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and most Western leaders have reluctantly conceded that Russia will maintain de facto control over much of the territory that it has conquered. Nevertheless, they continue to categorically reject de jure, or formal, recognition of Ukraine’s altered borders.
School Authors: Joshua Shifrinson
Other Authors: Peter Slezkine