I’ve Seen How This Plays Out for Ukraine

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1. Tetiana Kotelnykova: “A few days ago, my phone buzzed with a message from a friend. She was sheltering in a parking lot during a Russian air strike and wanted to know if I’d seen the news: America was pressuring Ukraine to cede Crimea to Russia. I replied and waited for a follow-up. None came.

   “I tried to picture where she was—perhaps a strip mall at the edge of town. Faded signs, broken glass, cracked pavement. Where people once bought groceries, now they take refuge from missiles. As I write this, I still don’t know if she made it out of that parking lot alive.

   “… For nearly half my life, I’ve been displaced. I’ve lost people. I’ve watched Russia take what it wanted, and I’ve watched the world redraw the lines afterward. Now, after all these years and all this bloodshed, Ukraine is once again being asked to accept the idea that Crimea belongs to Russia. ​

   “The Trump administration’s proposed agreement would recognize Russia’s illegal annexation and freeze the war’s front lines. But nothing I’ve lived through suggests this would be the end of it. Each concession has been followed by another demand. Every new border has eventually been redrawn. Crimea wasn’t the end. Neither was Donetsk. Neither was Mariupol. It’s not difficult to see what comes next.

   “… What’s happening to Ukraine isn’t just about Ukraine. Every line redrawn here makes lines easier to redraw somewhere else. Ukraine sees clearly now that appeasement doesn’t end these kinds of wars. It just moves them.”

   Read more: [https://theatln.tc/beTYfmdf](https://theatln.tc/beTYfmdf)

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