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This coming week will mark 1,000 days since Russia launched their all-out invasion of Ukraine.

In those 1,000 days, and through many hundreds of thousands of individual acts of bravery, Ukraine has demonstrated time and time again that the country and her people will not capitulate to Russia's attempts to subjugate this sovereign nation. And, going forward, as people search for ways to end this war, Ukraine will still not capitulate.

The return of Donald Trump to the presidency will, for better or worse, have a major impact on world affairs. But it is perhaps in regard to the war in Ukraine that his decisions may have the biggest impact and the President-Elect needs to understand that means, therefore, that Ukrainians get a say in whether or not they accept whatever decisions he may make.

At the outset of this phase of the war, after rejecting overtures to move himself and his Government into exile, Ukraine's President famously said, "I need ammo, not a ride", and the situation remains now as it was then.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to capitulate, and simply requested the tools needed to stand up to the challenge. Driven by the understanding that theirs was an existential fight, men and women flocked to take up arms to fight the invaders, and since those first days the mood for this fight was set. Ukraine, thought to have only a few days to stand, stood firm and fought back.

It is the intention of Ukraine, from everything I read and hear, to continue to stand firm and fight back; nobody can deny them that right.

EXCLUSIVE

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Kris Parker

As things stand, there is no "peace plan" for Ukraine on the table. There are, as Trump likes to say, "concepts of a plan" though. We hear ideas being raised constantly (usually accompanied by qualifiers like "the simplest path to peace in Ukraine is…" because they are simple ideas not grasping the complexities or roots of the situation) about the kinds of concessions that Ukraine is going to have to make.

Why? What single concession has Ukraine made to Russia in the 1,000 days since 24 February 2022? Why would Ukraine start to make concessions now?

It has often been said that one of the problems with the approach taken by President Joe Biden was that he did not have a clear plan to end the war. There is some justification in that.

However, and this is very important, Ukraine does have a clear plan to end the war and it is that plan - understood almost universally in Ukraine - that has kept this fighting spirit unbroken throughout 1,000 days of hardship, suffering, and pain.

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Alexandra Hall Hall

The plan is to end the war by undoing the acts that came at the very beginning of it a decade ago, by making the Russian occupation of any part of Ukraine untenable. Yes, including Crimea.

Those who are pushing Ukraine to cede part of the country to Russia, be that "just" Crimea, or all of the occupied territories, to bring the active fighting to a close all fail to understand what they are advocating for.

They will have created a modern precedent for recognising borders redrawn by military force in Europe. Such things should be behind us. The peo...