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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Robert Skidelsky

Britain’s insistence on total Ukrainian victory was misguided – it’s time for a realistic compromise

Starmer and Zelenskyy shake hands in front of Ukrainian flags and union jacks
Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet for bilateral talks at Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, 16 January 2025. Photograph: Carl Court/AP

On the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, British policy towards the war is in a mess. The continuing official British position, echoed by all the main media, has been “no peace without a Ukraine victory” – meaning, centrally, the expulsion of Russia from all territories seized since 2014. President Trump’s active search for a compromise peace tears up this script.

When a long, consistently pursued policy ends in a shambles, it is time to reflect on what was right and what was wrong about it, and what might still be done to reinsert Britain into a process to which it has become largely irrelevant.

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