Activists warn that Ukraine accepting a ceasefire on Russia's terms would not have the intended outcome and might, to the contrary, lead to more aggression.
Aaron Rhodes is a prominent international human rights activist and a senior fellow at the Common Sense Society. On Tuesday, the Kyiv Post published an opinion piece by Rhodes in which he spoke out against recent calls by other activists for Ukraine to accept a ceasefire and bring an end to the conflict.
Rhodes positioned his piece as a response to an alleged demonstration being planned for February 15, nearly a year after Russia's invasion first began. This protest, he explained, will not be against Russia's continued aggression, but rather in support of Ukraine coming to terms with the invader to end the aggression. Newsweek could not independently confirm the existence of this planned protest.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously stressed that his country will not enter into more peace talks with Ukraine unless it accepts Russia's terms. This includes, among other things, that Ukraine recognizes territory that Russia has annexed, either in the past or over the last year of the invasion. This would include Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014, and the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, which were annexed in late September.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously signed a decree rejecting direct peace talks on these terms, and Rhodes stated that the Ukrainian people "are overwhelmingly opposed to negotiation."
Rhodes argued that any sort of ceasefire brokered on the terms that Russia has put forward up till now would not end its aggression against Ukraine and would, in fact, encourage it to pursue further gains, with its past actions having essentially been appeased. This, he argued further, comes down to the fact that Putin does not truly believe in Ukrainian sovereignty.
"Any ceasefire brought about by negotiations on Russia's terms would not end Russia's war against Ukraine, and amount to appeasement that would only encourage further aggression," Rhodes wrote. "There can be no confusion about Russia's motivations and intentions given clear statements by Putin that Russia aims to 'take back' what it believes is Russia's; that Ukrainian sovereignty does not exist.
"Any failure to defend a democratic country attacked and illegally occupied by an aggressor is contributing to the expansion of dictatorial and totalitarian regimes around the world; and weakening the defense of human rights, in principle and practice."
Newsweek reached out to Ukrainian officials for comment.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
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