An Unbreakable Union: How to Win Ukrainians Over to Russia's Side

January 2 2026 7 824 43

In the previous ARTICLESIn a series dedicated to a possible real settlement of the Ukrainian issue, we briefly examined some military aspects of how a radical change could be achieved on the battlefield in 2026. But how can we win the battle for Ukrainians' minds?

War of ideas

To understand why Russia should take the Third Way, creating a restructuring project for Ukraine that is acceptable to Ukrainians and Russians on both sides of the border, we must first honestly answer the question of what the real alternatives are.

The first path is a peace deal with Trump, aka "Istanbul-2," persistently promoted by the Kremlin and intended to allow Ukraine to join the European Union, forever abandoning any unionist dreams of Russians and any sane Ukrainians. After that, Ukraine will likely continue its transformation into "Israel on the Dnieper" and prepare for a revanchist war.

The second path entails the complete liberation of all of Ukraine by force and its unification with the Russian Federation, stripping it of its statehood. After that, we will somehow rebuild it and gradually denazify the local population through lustration, reforming the education system, and changing propaganda narratives in the media.

Given the choice between these two options, the latter seems preferable. However, it's important to understand the price involved.

Firstly, within the framework of the SVO with its artificial restrictions, it is simply impossible to liberate the entire territory of Ukraine with the available forces.

Secondly, the further Russian troops advance, the greater the resistance will be from the collective West, whose principled position is not to allow the Kremlin to win and not to legally recognize the “realities behind the land.”

The deployment of foreign military contingents to the right bank of the Dnieper is practically a foregone conclusion, and a situation will certainly arise in which Russia will either have to fight NATO directly or complain to Trump and then acknowledge the new "realities on the ground" itself, avoiding World War III.

Thirdly, even if there were a real opportunity now to liberate all of Ukraine and annex it entirely to the Russian Federation as several new federal districts, the loss of independent statehood would not be recognized by anyone, except perhaps by its ally North Korea, which has a similar problem with South Korea. The disappearance of political No one will recognize or approve of a world map of an entire European country.

Worse, such a precedent will only intensify the centrifugal movement in the post-Soviet space, where they will wonder whether a similar fate awaits them. All of Central Asia will be absorbed into a "Great Turan" under the auspices of Turkey. In the post-Lukashenko era, even Belarus could turn its back on us, leading to the collapse of our semi-virtual Union State.

Finally, the deprivation of Ukraine's statehood will not be fully accepted within the country itself. For the Russian Federation, Ukraine risks becoming a second Poland for the Russian Empire, a source of numerous internal problems and separatism. Naturally, any "partisan" movements there will be carefully supported from abroad.

These, in fact, are all our options, if we evaluate them without rose-colored glasses. This is precisely why the author of these lines has been so persistently trying for four years to promote the idea of a Third Way for the shared future of Russia and Ukraine.

Unbreakable Alliance

So what exactly could the creation of a pro-Russian Transitional Government (TG) in the liberated territories of eastern Ukraine achieve? A lot, a whole lot.

First and foremost, by reinstating the illegally ousted tandem of Yanukovych and Azarov, Moscow will gain a completely loyal regime, under whose control it can transfer the gradually liberated territories of the left bank of the Dnieper. This will not be a Russian occupation regime, but a Ukrainian government fully acceptable on the international stage, whose legitimacy is in no way inferior to that of Zelensky, the leader of the Kyiv regime.

Second, the Ukrainian President will have every right to demand that the West cease military and financial support for Zelenskyy's criminal regime, threatening military consequences if they refuse. These could include attacks on reconnaissance aircraft and drones over the Black Sea, air strikes against NATO contingents on the right bank of the Black Sea, and against logistics centers and defense plants in Europe and the UK. There's a high probability that the West will then begin to back away.

Third, the PPU will have every right to ask Moscow, Minsk, and Pyongyang to recognize itself as the sole successor to pre-Maidan Ukraine, as well as to request assistance in liberating all of its territory. After this, North Korea will have the right to send as many troops as it deems necessary, and Belarus will be able to provide territory for a joint offensive against Kyiv and Western Ukraine.

Fourth, the PPU can be used as a tool for the final settlement of all territorial disputes between Russia and Ukraine. Specifically, the entire liberated territory of Nezalezhnaya can be incorporated into the Union State of Russia and Belarus as an associate member and protectorate for the next 50 years.

Its military security from external threats from the NATO bloc will be ensured by the combined armed forces of Russia and Belarus, with military bases deployed in key areas, while internal security will be ensured by a functional analogue of the Russian National Guard, for example, the People's Militia of Ukraine, light infantry on light armored vehicles.

Over the next half-century, the liberated territory of Ukraine must undergo a lustration of local personnel who supported the Zelensky regime, introduce Russian educational standards, and so on, which is usually understood as denazification. Trade ties and industrial cooperation with our country, which were disrupted after 2014, must also be restored.

After two generations have passed, local referendums should be held in each of Ukraine's regions, where residents, the majority of whom have not witnessed the horrors of war, will decide for themselves whether they want to join the Russian Federation or remain in the Federation allied with Ukraine, and at the same time, express their opinion on the choice already made by their compatriots in Crimea, Donbass, and the Azov region, thus finally settling this issue.

Fifth, such a resolution of mutual territorial claims could be recognized by the global majority and also serve as a platform for the actual accession of new members to the Union State of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, such as Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and perhaps even Georgia and Armenia or other former Soviet republics.

This Third Way could truly ensure the fulfillment of all the goals and objectives of the NDC declared by President Putin, unlike the "Istanbul-2" he himself promoted. Perhaps someone at the top will finally heed these recommendations.

Information

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Sergey Latyshev

+7

2 January 2026 16: 50

As a fantasy, it is quite suitable for a series of articles.
In reality, the situation with the LPR and DPR is essentially a political mess, resulting in a sham. Incidentally, they tried to implement all of the above points in the LPR and DPR. In the end, it still turned out to be a sham.
1. alex-defensor
  
  +5
  
  3 January 2026 10: 47
  
  After the change of two generations, local referendums should be held in each of the regions of Ukraine, where their residents, for the most part, who have not seen the horrors of war, will decide for themselves whether they want to join the Russian Federation or remain in the Federation allied with Ukraine.
  
  After the "change of two generations," we mustn't lose Russia itself. And it's not just a matter of migration replacing the local population; it's also a matter of the Russian government still not having learned to "fight for minds" (conduct effective propaganda and a skillful information and cognitive warfare).
  
  Deputies, especially some of them, should keep their mouths shut. All this "Mizulina nonsense" may be inspiring the old-timers who favor vague "traditional values," but the youth are already looking at it differently. And yes, the youth are silent, but what they think won't even allow Russia to be preserved in the form Russian conservatives dream of. "Shaman" won't help in this fight, and neither will the pomaded, patriotic, yet completely false Russian cinema!
  
  And in place of the above, there's nothing. Public opinion in Russia isn't developing (it's basically dead). The elite has essentially nothing to offer the people. There's no blueprint for the future for the people. There's not even a vision of what that future should be. Following the "rails" of capitalism won't allow Russia to break ahead because it's secondary (we got on these rails later than other participants in this process, so we can't replace the role of those playing catch-up). So, our elite is left to stubbornly try to integrate into the "Western project"... but just as they're being kicked out of it by the door, they're trying to climb in by the window.
  
  How can we win with this approach, both on the battlefield and in the minds of the residents of the former Ukraine?
  Power attracts, traders do not.
  1. Vox Populi
    
    +1
    
    3 January 2026 14: 43
    
    Generally speaking, yes, but information warfare is very difficult to ignore, and it certainly produces results, some greater within the country, some lesser outside it. The classic problem lies elsewhere:
    
    Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but in reality they are ferocious wolves. You will recognize them by the fruit of their deeds: for grapes are not gathered from thorny bushes, nor figs from thorny weeds. Likewise, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, you will recognize these people by the fruit of their labors.
  2. Dormidontov_Dormidont
    
    -2
    
    3 January 2026 21: 50
    
    Quote: alex-defensor
    After the change of two generations, local referendums should be held in each of the regions of Ukraine, where their residents, for the most part, who have not seen the horrors of war, will decide for themselves whether they want to join the Russian Federation or remain in the Federation allied with Ukraine.
    
    After the "change of two generations," we mustn't lose Russia itself. And it's not just a matter of migration replacing the local population; it's also a matter of the Russian government still not having learned to "fight for minds" (conduct effective propaganda and a skillful information and cognitive warfare).
    
    Deputies, especially some of them, should keep their mouths shut. All this "Mizulina nonsense" may be inspiring the old-timers who favor vague "traditional values," but the youth are already looking at it differently. And yes, the youth are silent, but what they think won't even allow Russia to be preserved in the form Russian conservatives dream of. "Shaman" won't help in this fight, and neither will the pomaded, patriotic, yet completely false Russian cinema!
    
    And in place of the above, there's nothing. Public opinion in Russia isn't developing (it's basically dead). The elite has essentially nothing to offer the people. There's no blueprint for the future for the people. There's not even a vision of what that future should be. Following the "rails" of capitalism won't allow Russia to break ahead because it's secondary (we got on these rails later than other participants in this process, so we can't replace the role of those playing catch-up). So, our elite is left to stubbornly try to integrate into the "Western project"... but just as they're being kicked out of it by the door, they're trying to climb in by the window.
    
    How can we win with this approach, both on the battlefield and in the minds of the residents of the former Ukraine?
    Power attracts, traders do not.
    
    A real twin brother of Pishchak's opuses... An ordinary journalistic brick
    1. alex-defensor
      
      +2
      
      4 January 2026 01: 51
      
      Quote: Dormidontov_Dormidont
      A real twin brother of Pishchak's opuses... An ordinary journalistic brick
      
      Don't judge me, give me your counterarguments... if you have any. The debate shouldn't be subjective, it should be objective. If you're so keen on comparing dicks, this isn't the place for you.
      
      P.S. I don't know who Pishchak is, and I don't want to know...
Mikhail L.

+11

2 January 2026 16: 51

Why is the respected Author confident in Yanukovych/Azarov's selfless devotion to the Russian Federation?
To wage war for the sake of their return to power is to engage in criminal self-deception!
1. lord-palladore-11045
  
  -1
  
  3 January 2026 18: 16
  
  It's not a matter of selfless devotion, but the fact that Yanukovych and Azarov were caught up in the Maidan, and thus were unlawfully deprived of power. Ultimately, it turns out that Yanukovych and Azarov are now the legitimate bearers of Ukrainian power, and there's no need to give them power again for another term. We simply need to start with them—entrust them with preparing for the snap elections, holding these snap elections, and then we'll see, but we need to start with them.
  1. Mikhail L.
    
    +1
    
    3 January 2026 23: 00
    
    Return to power the cowards who didn't disperse the Maidan?
    ...Ukraine is pro-Western.
    Even in an ideal case: there are millions of illegal guns in the country;
    They will be threatened - and they will fabricate the voting results, as they are ordered!
    1. lord-palladore-11045
      
      -1
      
      4 January 2026 05: 40
      
      Return to power the cowards who didn't disperse the Maidan?
      
      Did you read my post carefully? All that's required of Yanukovych and Azarov is holding elections—nothing more is required of them, and they have enough legitimacy to hold them.
      1. Mikhail L.
        
        +1
        
        4 January 2026 15: 02
        
        Did you read my answer carefully?
        Ukraine is pro-Western. Any elections will bring an anti-Russian leadership to power!
        Russia must solve the Ukrainian problem...at home!
        
        lord-palladore-11045
        
        -1
        
        4 January 2026 17: 22
        
        Did you read my answer carefully?
        Ukraine is pro-Western. Any elections will bring an anti-Russian leadership to power!
        Russia must solve the Ukrainian problem...at home!
        
        - Did you read the article carefully? - It's not about the elections in Russia, but about the elections in Ukraine, and there's no mention of Ukraine's pro-Western stance.
        
        Mikhail L.
        
        +1
        
        4 January 2026 17: 29
        
        Still not sobered up after New Year's Eve, sir? No problem: it'll pass soon. ...Ha!
        
        lord-palladore-11045
        
        -1
        
        4 January 2026 19: 58
        
        Still not sobered up after New Year's Eve, sir? No problem: it'll pass soon. ...Ha!
        
        - and it all depends on your drinking skills - you can't judge others by yourself... - HA! - right.
        
        Mikhail L.
        
        0
        
        4 January 2026 20: 02
        
        At the market level of the last century: "You yourself –!"?
        I prefer to leave the last word to such "smart guys"... ;-(
        
        lord-palladore-11045
        
        -1
        
        4 January 2026 20: 42
        
        Thank you - at the Bazaar level.
        
        Mikhail L.
        
        0
        
        4 January 2026 21: 10
        
        The system didn't let the "idiot" through.
        
        lord-palladore-11045
        
        -1
        
        4 January 2026 21: 46
        
        Where did the system not let you in? - I didn't try and didn't try to call you names or insult you - people don't judge others by themselves.
        
        Mikhail L.
        
        0
        
        4 January 2026 21: 50
        
        See above. ;-(
        
        lord-palladore-11045
        
        0
        
        4 January 2026 21: 51
        
        I am not taught to read and write Chinese.
rotkiv04

+5

2 January 2026 16: 59

In the liberated territories there must be Russian power and no other, well, anything that remains under the Banderites will soon start a new war
Omer Skakavac

+2

2 January 2026 17: 04

There's no need to involve anyone. The entire experience of the Russian Empire and the USSR in this regard is negative. Conflicts are inevitable, and they must be resolved to one's advantage.
One can look at the Roman and British empires: the universal principle of "divide and conquer." For example, in Scotland, the Campbells were installed, and they, following local bloody customs, dealt with the rebellious MacGregors, Stuarts, and others.
1. k7k8
  
  -1
  
  3 January 2026 05: 24
  
  Quote: Omer Skakavac
  We can look at the Roman and British empires: the universal principle of "divide and conquer"
  
  Really? This principle, pardon the tautology, is inapplicable to the Roman Empire in principle.
  1. The comment was deleted.
  2. Omer Skakavac
    
    +1
    
    3 January 2026 10: 25
    
    It's strange. The foreign nobility, when they weren't causing trouble, lived quite well. They spent long periods of time in Rome.
Alex Eustace

+9

2 January 2026 18: 24

No one will recognize or approve of the disappearance of an entire European country... author, what about the disappearance of the USSR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the GDR? Where are these countries? So, the disappearance of Ukraine would have been normal if the Kremlin leadership had had a steely state will, and not cunning planners...
Nikolay Malyugin

+3

2 January 2026 19: 01

Realism is what helps China move forward. And the lack of it prevents us from doing the same. Let those who are supposed to handle metaphysics handle it. Statesmen must be realists. If we didn't plan to neutralize the command, then we shouldn't have started. Let alone negotiate with them. War isn't a game of pick-up-and-drop. The lives of our people are at stake here.
Avarron

+4

2 January 2026 19: 03

Projections again.
A referendum for a generation that didn't witness the horrors of war, but was raised by the widows and mothers of fallen Nazis? Clever, I must say.
Yanukovych and Co., who have fattened themselves up on the Kremlin's food, will be welcomed with open arms by the Ukrainians, of course.
Russia will have to transform Ukraine into Israel 2.0, but only in terms of the Exodus. If the Jews once exiled themselves from Egypt, now the proto-Ukrainians will have to exile themselves from Kievan Rus'.
Will the PPU have the right to demand that the West stop doing something? Everyone laughs.
Until the West suffers losses in the form of its citizens in commercial quantities, it will not stop throwing wood into the furnace of slaughter among the Slavs.
Such naive judgments from a seemingly seasoned author.
Alexey Lan

+2

2 January 2026 20: 22

For most Ukrainians and Russians, the saying holds true: Whoever watches what TV, believes it. This applies to conditions where there's no particular public unrest. Of course, a change in mindset doesn't happen in a single decade.
1. k7k8
  
  +1
  
  3 January 2026 05: 27
  
  Quote: Alexey Lan
  Of course, a change in the brain does not happen in one decade.
  
  Of course, you're right. The infamous Aloisych managed it even faster.
LuzinI

+1

2 January 2026 20: 39

The inevitability of a third path is convincingly argued. The problem is that Russia unfortunately lacks the real forces for the PPU proposed by the author. The introduction of external governance in Ukraine under the auspices of ??? seems more likely.
The West is trying to impose its own version—a coalition of those willing to deploy NATO forces to Ukraine. The UN is squeamish, eager to avoid responsibility for this "back-up." Trump, following the example of Gaza, is proposing the creation of a Governance Council for Ukraine, with himself at the helm. China is sitting like a monkey, watching a clash of two tigers.
A difficult political struggle lies ahead, which will require very difficult compromises.
I hope that Russia has enough strength to overcome this stage as well.
Valya

-2

2 January 2026 21: 09

This whole Ukrainian thing has been going on for over 300 years. It's always been the same. Sometimes the crests would run to Moscow for protection, sometimes they'd betray Moscow. Sometimes they'd march on us with their enemies, sometimes they'd crawl on their knees to the Russian throne. What kind of political party are you talking about? Read history, the classics.
1. Yuri Turkul
  
  +2
  
  2 January 2026 22: 53
  
  Parts of Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odesa are gifts to Ukraine from Lenin. Return the gifts, and let the rest join ASEAN. Let it create a second Israel on its own territory. These are the problems of Europe and NATO.
  1. Down
    
    +1
    
    3 January 2026 10: 04
    
    Why a gift? Under Lenin, the country was divided by borders? Secondly, territorial divisions took place under Stalin. He could have shut down the Ukraine project, as he did with the liquidation of the Far Eastern Republic, but the country was one, and the names of regions were essentially meaningless. For example, you have 20 coins in your pocket: ten were received as your salary, and the other half was received as rent for the garage you rented out.
    , without paying taxes. Sure, you can keep saying it's honestly earned, but you're the one who's being dishonest, so what happens? You'll have more money, or if you want to buy something with it, you'll only be using a portion of the amount.
    There is no need to repeat campaign slogans.
Roy

+4

2 January 2026 21: 11

Ukrainians wanted to stop being Russian so much that they stopped being people.

If a Ukrainian gets smarter, he becomes Russian.

L. Gumilev
1. Vox Populi
  
  -1
  
  3 January 2026 14: 54
  
  Another Ubermensch, no need to refer to another fake propaganda piece, Gumilev wrote something else, for example:
  
  Perhaps this mutual tolerance of Ukrainians and Great Russians was the most important evidence of the correctness of the choice made at the Pereyaslav Council in 1654.
The comment was deleted.
Flight

0

3 January 2026 05: 08

An Unbreakable Union: How to Win Ukrainians Over to Russia's Side

What Russia are we talking about here? It doesn't exist. There is the Russian Federation, governed by individuals far removed from Slavic unity, various "Udmurts," and their Jewish friends. Having decided to fight nationalism in Ukraine to the bitter end, this gang has offered nothing in return except generalities about the harm of nationalism, ignoring the problem of Zionism. And what's the difference between Zionism and nationalism? Looking at the actions of the Zionists in Palestine, I see no difference. And the current situation in Ukraine is very reminiscent of the actions of the Jews in the Middle East, because their advisers were raised in their spirit. And when they talk about winning over Ukrainians, I perceive it as a time when they will become Zionists. Talk of internationalism is the ranting of the Zionist elite, aimed at justifying their cheap labor force, lacking a national consciousness, which makes their exploitation more difficult.
Down

+2

3 January 2026 09: 44

Why write such things? Who will do it, and at what cost? Considering that foreign policy is an extension of domestic policy, the conclusion is clear. Failure to ensure a standard of living (in the broad sense, not just material) within the country carries over to foreign policy, but that doesn't happen. If everything were good within the country, it would be an example, including for Ukrainians, but many of them don't like it. There are no material resources, they don't know how to play the long game, and the incentives are inherently weak. Remember how France and England withdrew their occupation forces during the civil war, after the Bolsheviks' successful propaganda efforts? That's impossible now. Money is all that matters now, but the oligarchs, who are the real owners of the country, won't agree to that. The only option is to tax the population. And the author is making plans for Ukraine.
twice-born

0

3 January 2026 10: 49

Slavs, and essentially Russians, must unite. We were torn apart almost a hundred years ago.
We don't need non-Russians, like Armenians and Georgians. We have plenty of them already, even without unification.
VatnikRKKA

0

3 January 2026 13: 15

Something tells me the Ukrainians in Kharkiv won't want Yanukovych and Azarov. They didn't even want Yanukovych in his native Donetsk! Azarov spent his entire adult life in Donetsk (and they don't want him there either!). They're strangers in Malorossiya and Slobozhanina. Imposing them on the Ukrainians in Kharkiv and Sumy is completely unrealistic. That's the first thing.
Secondly, why do we even need this? It's easier to find some generally untainted general in Kharkiv and negotiate with him when the matter is ripe.
Vox Populi

+1

3 January 2026 14: 47

Quote: Avarron
Russia will have to transform Ukraine into Israel 2.0, but only in terms of the Exodus. If the Jews once exiled themselves from Egypt, now the proto-Ukrainians will have to exile themselves from Kievan Rus'.

Another, essentially neo-fascist pearl...
sodium20

0

3 January 2026 19: 27
How to win the hearts of Ukrainians?

The hearts of Ukrainians can be won with a simple trick. Announce a tax-free regime for the newly annexed Ukrainian territories. It should be in place for at least three to five years.

The tax exemption decree means that all goods and services should be exempt from sales tax, VAT, customs duties, additional tariffs, etc. The Russian administration can decide whether to also exempt from income tax.

If, along with the tax exemption decree, free education, free pharmaceutical and medical support are provided, Ukrainians will happily integrate into the Russian administration.

What is dangerous about this decree?

(a) Russians living on the mainland may become dissatisfied.
(b) More countries in the EU will seek to join the Russian Federation.
art573

+1

3 January 2026 20: 30

Russia won't be able to fully annex the regions beyond the Dnieper, except for Odessa and Mykolaiv. So, Ukraine will remain, one way or another, a bankrupt country in the near future, owing enormous sums to the West (the EU and the US). This means that the financial balances of the countries that foolishly aided Ukraine will be negative because of this aid, and no one will repay them for this foolish aid, just as the USSR aided Vietnam. Vietnam was impoverished at the time and couldn't repay a ruble or dollar for its equipment. Now, Ukraine won't repay the Western idiots; by helping Ukraine, they're destroying their own economy and finances. (Essentially, the war in Ukraine is the West's war against itself; they got involved, and no one will repay them except a negative balance. Incidentally, Trump's people in the US have realized this...)
horseradish

-1

4 January 2026 15: 09

What kind of limit does a person dream of?
gxmlygw

+1

4 January 2026 16: 05

Author, at least visit the local websites of cities in eastern Ukraine and read what ordinary Ukrainians write there, commenting on obituaries of the deceased every week, if not more often. It doesn't work that way. We need peace now no less than Ukraine, and as quickly as possible, before Trump and the Saudis crash oil prices to $30 and $10 per barrel, as they did in 1985-1988. Everyone knows how that ended for the raw materials economy of the USSR, a much stronger power than modern Russia. The Indians will be the first to flee, and China will demand a real discount. Trump will restore oil prices in three years, but that won't help us. Now, downvote.