Ukrainian Diplomacy amid the russian-Ukrainian War

Abstract

The year 2022 saw the turning point in the paradigm of the russian-Ukrainian war, as its perception transcended the notion of a local intra-Ukrainian conflict. The international community joined Ukrainian authorities in the realisation that they face a deeply rooted and global inter-civilisational conflict between russia and the collective West over the reshaping of the global order. Case in point to prove this challenge was the Treaty between the russian federation and the United States of America on Security Guarantees. It resulted from a military ultimatum vladimir putin issued to NATO and the USA on 17 December 2021. Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine has entered its final phase, i.e. the phase of total conventional warfare. There is little room now for doubting the futility of the Minsk and Normandy formats for regulating the Donbas conflict, or ‘Zelenskyy’s plan’ on modernizing the Minsk Agreements. Ukraine had but one choice left, to recognise the reality of the russian-Ukrainian war and be ready for russia’s full-scale military aggression. However, that has since proven to be a major challenge for Ukrainian authorities. This article attempts to analyse the efforts of Ukrainian diplomacy in solving this challenge and bringing Ukraine’s victory closer. The article aims to identify the strategic vectors of Ukrainian diplomacy during the initial period and climactic phase of the war. It also seeks to analyse the miscalculations and successes of Ukrainian diplomacy in bringing Ukraine closer to victory in the war against russia. A crucial objective of the research lies in contemplating the new architecture of European security emerging in the wake of the russian-Ukrainian war. The object of research is the full-scale russian-Ukrainian war; the subject of research is the role of diplomacy therein. Keywords: russian-Ukrainian war, negotiations, victory, anti-putin coalition, diplomacy