Large parts of the Donbas look like the moon after Russians bombed them. They've sent most of the local men to the slaughterhouse. Industry is gone, mining was obsolete, natural gas resources are less and less valuable as we advance with renewables, etc.
If there is ever a compromise, as a Ukrainian president I'd choose Crimea before Donbas because Crimea is strategically important and protects 80% of the Ukrainian South from invasion.
In an ideal situation, Ukraine should still get it back, because it's Ukrainian territory. But in practical terms, Donbas 2013 was a totally different place to Donbas 2024.
USSR was also once told in ~1990 "no NATO expansion to your doorstep". And now look what happens / has already happened due to Atlanticism pushing its agenda.
The Budapest memorandum however was a written agreement, much more meaningful, though sadly not binding.
[1] https://hls.harvard.edu/today/there-was-no-promise-not-to-en...
No, they weren’t, as even Gorbachev admitted, and even if they had been given private assurance not memorialized in a treaty or even a formal executive agreement, there would be no reasonable expectation of a binding commitment that survived the administrations on each side then in power, much less an actual collapse of the Soviet Union.
It’s not like the Soviet Union didn’t understand the mechanics of how binding international commitments are formed.
Oh it will. I don't see US and EU propping up the Zelensky regime limitless. (a country us non-US citizens laugh often about, for stopping government operations every couple of years until congress approves _another_ raise of its debt ceiling, just agreed on yet ANOTHER 6B of wasted money!?)
Given Russian endurance and ability to withstand economic hardship & sanctions, along with friendly country support, and Ukrainians losing equipemnt left'n'right, it is a matter of time.
Ugly things to talk about: give up Donbas, give up Crimea, give Zelensky the boot.