A member of the Ukrainian parliament confirmed that Ukraine was set to sign a peace deal with Russia in March of 2022 but the West sabotaged the deal and ordered Ukrainian President Zelensky to keep fighting. Had that peace deal been signed, thousands of innocent lives would not have been lost.
This revelation is something we’ve known for a long time but this is further proof. It comes from an interview with parliamentary leader David Arakhamia on Ukrainian TV channel 1+1. He confirmed that Boris Johnson’s visit to Ukraine in March of 2022 was the pivot point that caused Zelensky to ditch the idea of peace and continue to fight.
“They really hoped almost to the last moment that they would force us to sign such an agreement so that we would take neutrality,” he says. “It was the most important thing for them. They were prepared to end the war if we agreed to – as Finland once did – neutrality, and committed that we would not join NATO.”
The cruel irony is that the same deal that Zelensky refused may have been the best deal for Ukraine. They won’t get nearly as good of a deal now that four regions of Ukraine voted to join Russia and between 70,000- and 100,000 soldiers have died on Ukraine’s side. Ukraine has a far worse negotiating advantage now and yet, as Antiwar.com points out, “Ukraine’s Western backers are [now] discussing Kyiv’s opening dialogue with Moscow.”
So, worse deal, many deaths, 20 months of war. Was that worth it? U.S. lawmakers will vote on that very question this week as they debate yet another funding package for Ukraine.