Trump is set to meet with Putin in Alaska on August 15. Media reports and leaks ahead of this meeting, along with statements by President Trump and members of his administration, suggest that the two leaders may have discussed a plan in which Ukraine would cede some or all of the occupied territories to Russia in exchange for “peace.”

This brings us back to the basics: the fundamental truth that violating internationally recognized borders through military aggression cannot lead to sustainable peace.

In this episode, we explain why the idea of a territorial swap is dangerous — why it would undermine international law, destabilize the global order, and why neither Ukraine nor most EU member states are likely to accept it.

***

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.

Guest: Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian journalist and public intellectual, the head of the international department at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, and author of the podcast “L’Ukraine face a la guerre: (Ukraine facing the war), in French.

***

Explaining Ukraine is produced by UkraineWorld, an English-language media project about Ukraine, run by Internews Ukraine.

Listen on various platforms (apple, youtube, spotify, soundcloud, amazon etc): https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

***

SUPPORT US:

You can support our work on Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld

Your contributions are essential, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also help fund our volunteer trips to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we support both soldiers and civilians.

Donations are welcome via PayPal: [email protected]