Though news coverage indicates that only questions of territory remain unresolved, Ukraine’s red lines cannot be found on maps. Bitter recent history has taught that what matters is not where the ceasefire lines are drawn, but what happens afterward. It has been reported that the United States is prepared to offer Ukraine legally binding security guarantees. But no Western army is going to storm a town in eastern Ukraine to evict Russian troops after the fact. This war ends only when Putin accepts that Ukraine is lost to Russia — that its future is independent, sovereign and European.

Source: Washington Post December 19, 2025 22:16 UTC