Reply to thread

The irony is, that if he (Mr Putin) had not launched his invasion of Ukraine last February, it is entirely possible that he actually could have achieved some version of this (desired, for him) outcome.

Had the invasion not occurred, I suspect (strongly) that - ultimately - the eventual solution would have been some version of two Ukraines, and that much diplomatic and political effort would have been expended in an attempt to achieve such an outcome (above all, much energy and effort would have gone into reconciling the Ukrainians to this outcome) which would have taken the form of some sort of political architecture designed to express the existence of two Ukraines.

However, the invasion (special military operation) has completely put paid to that.