It is not the West’s place to demand that Ukraine cede territory to Russia.
The dynamic of the war in Ukraine appears to have shifted in Russia’s favour. After retreating from the outskirts of Kyiv in April, the Russian army has since refocused its efforts on taking swathes of eastern Ukraine. To that end, the Kremlin has poured thousands of troops and hardware into the Donbas region, laying siege to key cities in its two provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukrainian officials have admitted this week that Russia now has the ‘upper hand’ in the Donbas. Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk, estimated that as little as five per cent of his province was still under Ukrainian control – down from about 10 per cent a week ago.
