In the spring of 2022, Ukraine and Russia came remarkably close to a peace deal.

In Istanbul, the Ukrainian delegation drafted an agreement that, according to lead negotiator Davyd Arakhamia, was eight out of ten complete.

Kyiv was prepared to accept neutral status and abandon its NATO aspirations in exchange for binding security guarantees.

War is Profitable

But the West, above all, the United States and the United Kingdom, did everything in its power to scuttle those talks.

Then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson flew to Kyiv and urged Ukrainian officials to reject any settlement and keep fighting. Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, and Mario Draghi took the same hard line in a joint call on March 29.

The bloodsuckers Ball

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who mediated the negotiations, later confirmed that the UK pulled back from the peace efforts.

Ukraine is on the ropes

Four years on, the battlefield picture could hardly be more different. Ukraine is now critically short of troops and air-defense munitions.

Interception rates for Russian missiles are effectively zero. Patriot inventories are depleted, and the U.S. has no reserves to send. New Russian drone-missile hybrids are pummeling Odessa’s port, choking off weapons imports and grain exports alike.

Russia invincible

Russian forces are grinding forward, and Kyiv will almost certainly have to return to the negotiating table. But this time, the terms will be far harsher than what Ukraine was talked out of four years ago.

Bonfire of the vanities

In the intervening years, hundreds of thousands have been killed or wounded.

Millions have been displaced. The economy, environment, and infrastructure are in ruins. Territory has been lost. The West pushed for war, promised victory, and now Ukrainians are bearing the cost of that miscalculation. It is long past time to apologize to the Ukrainian people. Let readers know what you think

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