"America's New Map of Ukraine Looks Like Something Putin Would Have Drawn Himself – Opinion"

 

    To divide Ukraine as one might have divided Hitler’s Reich is a moral travesty

Partitioning Ukraine Is a Moral Catastrophe

Proposing to divide Ukraine as the Allies once carved up Hitler’s Reich is not just historically inaccurate—it is a moral outrage. Yet this is precisely the plan floated by Donald Trump’s envoys: retired General Keith Kellogg and real estate executive turned pseudo-diplomat Steve Witkoff. Their blueprint envisions Ukraine split “almost like Berlin after World War Two.” Western Ukraine would be occupied by Anglo-French forces, the east handed to Russia, with a demilitarized buffer in between. Witkoff even endorses Moscow’s claim to four Ukrainian regions, citing language and sham referenda as justification.

The Berlin Wall may have fallen in 1989, but the logic behind it is alarmingly alive in 2025.

This marks a stunning and dangerous shift. Postwar Berlin was divided after Nazi Germany launched a genocidal war and was utterly defeated. The Allies split the Reich to ensure it could never again threaten the world. Ukraine, in contrast, is no aggressor. It did not invade, annex, or initiate genocide. It is the victim of a brutal, unprovoked invasion. And yet, in this twisted vision, it’s being treated like the criminal.

Dividing Ukraine as if it were Nazi Germany hands Russia a propaganda victory it could never earn on the battlefield. Putin’s regime has long pushed the false narrative that its war is about “de-Nazifying” Ukraine. Now, Kellogg and Witkoff risk enshrining that lie in maps and military zones.

Kellogg’s reference to postwar Berlin isn’t a strategy—it’s a surrender. In 1945, Berlin was partitioned after Germany’s unconditional surrender. Ukraine, by contrast, has not surrendered. It continues to fight for its sovereignty, its people, and its democracy.

This proposal—placing British and French forces in western Ukraine while conceding eastern territory to Russia—ignores the core truth of the war: Russia is the invader. Ukraine is not a collapsed empire or a defeated enemy; it is a sovereign nation resisting conquest.

A more fitting analogy would be 1941–42, when Nazi Germany had seized large parts of the Soviet Union. Imagine if, at that moment, the Allies had suggested legitimizing those gains in exchange for peace. Such appeasement would have rewarded aggression and betrayed the victim. That is exactly what Kellogg and Witkoff now propose for Ukraine.

Witkoff’s Kremlin-friendly logic is no surprise. In interviews, including with Tucker Carlson, he has openly parroted Russian justifications. His arguments for ceding Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson—some of which are not even under Russian control—rest on the language of Russian disinformation. He cites rigged referenda and vague claims about local sentiment, echoing Putin’s favorite talking points.

This mirrors the disastrous thinking behind the 1938 Munich Agreement, when Western powers allowed Nazi Germany to annex Czechoslovakia in the name of “peace.” President Zelenskyy has rightly rejected this line of reasoning, making clear that Ukraine will not trade its land or dignity for a false peace.

Witkoff’s proposal, like Kellogg’s, is not just wrong—it is dangerous. It legitimizes Putin’s narrative, transforming a military failure into a diplomatic victory. The symbolism is catastrophic: treating Ukraine as a state that must be managed and partitioned, not supported and defended, plays directly into Moscow’s hands.

Together, Kellogg and Witkoff are doing what Russian tanks could not—making Russia’s conquest look like Western consensus.

History remembers who draws the lines.

The maps that result from rushed, cowardly deals often last longer than the wars themselves. To divide Ukraine today is to replace the rule of law with the rule of force. It teaches that borders can be redrawn by violence—and that lesson will not end wars; it will spark new ones.

Ukraine is not postwar Germany. It is prewar Europe. And if the West accepts this partition, it will not just abandon Ukraine—it will dismantle the very order that has kept Europe at peace for nearly a century.