In an article published on his blog on March 19, Gilbert Doctorow reminds his readers that despite the claims made by Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, Russia has no intent of creating a new Russian Empire and certainly does not want to absorb Ukraine, which would be “an interminable drag on the Russian economy and political focus.” (https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/03/19/the-coming-partition-of-ukraine/)
The Russian motivation is clear; it is to rid Ukraine of “NATO formations presently embedded, of NATO membership still projected by the Alliance, and of the neo-Nazi radicals who since 2014 have been the force behind the throne in the Kiev regime.”
Doctorow warns that one potential outcome of a Ukrainian attempt to fight to the end would be that “the war will end with the civil and military infrastructure of Ukraine totally shattered, with the permanent mass emigration of millions, including the most able-bodied segments of the population, and with a decade or more of destitution for those unfortunate enough to remain.”
He raises the possibility of the partition of Ukraine, creating one Ukraine west of the Dnieper, containing Ukrainian radicals and few assets, but located far enough from Russia to assuage its security concerns, while another Russia, east of the Dnieper and with Black Sea access, would have a population capable of rejecting attempts to defeat an attempted insurgency.
