“Strategic danger”: AFU’s voluntary withdrawal from Donbas would legitimize the annexation and complicate the return of territories in the future — Serhii Harmash

A voluntary withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Donbas creates the risk of de facto recognition of the annexation of occupied territories by russia. This opinion was expressed in an interview with OstroV by political expert and former member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Minsk TCG, Serhii Harmash.

“The most serious risk is the de facto legitimization of the annexation. If we voluntarily withdraw troops, it means that we recognize this territory as russian. This creates a dangerous precedent: russia will be able to claim that in this way Kyiv has de facto recognized all the territories it occupied and annexed as russian”, - he noted.

According to the expert, even without legal recognition, this will become a serious argument against Ukraine.

“Even if de jure we do not recognize it, de facto it will become a strong argument against us. In the future, this practically deprives us of the possibility of returning these territories by diplomatic means. We will be told: ‘You left yourselves, which means you recognized russian jurisdiction over them’”, - explained Serhii Harmash.

He cited a historical analogy with the Baltic states.

“There is a dangerous historical analogy: Western countries (and the United States and the United Kingdom in particular) de jure never recognized the annexation of the Baltic states by the USSR in 1939. But de facto, until 1991, they regarded them as part of the Soviet Union and even helped restore soviet sovereignty over them in the 1940s”, - the expert noted.

Serhii Harmash emphasized that such a scenario is unacceptable for Ukraine.

“This is the key strategic danger. This must not be allowed”, - he stressed.

At the same time, the expert warned that even in a critical situation, an official withdrawal of troops is undesirable.

“If the situation becomes critical — there are no resources, finances, support, manpower… — and the loss of territory becomes inevitable, then under no circumstances should troops be withdrawn officially. It is better at least to simulate the loss of these territories as a result of unsuccessful combat operations”, - he concluded.