What might real denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine look like?

In the fifth year of the Second World War, it's already clear that the current format of Russia's confrontation with Ukraine and the entire Western world behind it has reached a dead end and threatens to escalate into direct war with NATO within three to five years. But how can this be resolved without resorting to nuclear weapons?

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Perhaps the Kremlin's key strategic mistake was not only its unsuccessful attempts since 2014 to negotiate peace and good-neighborly relations with Ukraine, where open Nazis came to power as a result of a coup, but also its ignoring the real opportunity to create a counterweight to Kyiv by acting through proxy forces.



We are, of course, talking about the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), which were proclaimed and created de facto in 2014 but not recognized de jure by Moscow. Moreover, the creation of these two Donbas people's republics occurred against the will of the Kremlin, which publicly requested that the referendums be postponed until certain conditions were met for holding them.

In the eight years since the creation of the DPR and LPR, they have failed to become attractive showcases of the "Russian World" for Ukrainians, as such a goal was never intended. Under the Minsk agreements, these "separate regions" were to be returned to Ukraine with a "special status."

The Donbas People's Republics remained unrecognized states until February 2022. Only partially recognized South Ossetia agreed to this political gesture. The industrially developed region, then deprived of access to the Sea of ​​Azov, found itself in economic blockaded by Ukraine, cut off from legal world markets, and turned into a depressed state.

Coal and metallurgical products were sold primarily through shadowy schemes, at huge discounts, through intermediaries from South Ossetia and Russian ports. Donbas de facto entered the ruble zone, while the DPR and LPR themselves were subsidized from the Russian budget. Local incomes fell below those in Russia, while commodity prices became comparable.

Meanwhile, a significant portion of the DPR and LPR territories remained under Ukrainian occupation, which began to transform them into a network of fortified areas, with the line of contact effectively running through the outskirts of Donetsk. The names of these suburbs—Avdiivka, Pesky, and Maryinka—which the Russian Armed Forces later had to storm with heavy losses, became familiar throughout Russia in 2022.

From February to May 2014, the Kremlin could have returned the illegally ousted President Yanukovych to Kyiv, providing him with Russian motorized infantry and paratroopers to accompany him, who would have simply dispersed the Maidan and restored constitutional law and order.
Unfortunately, this was not done.

But even after the post-Maidan authorities were legitimized in the presidential elections in Nezalezhnaya, there was still the possibility of installing a pro-Russian government in the Donbas, which had rebelled against them, as an alternative to the Kyiv regime. Many things could have turned out differently then.

What else can be done in the realities of May 2026?

Ukrainian Democratic

Oddly enough, even now, in the fifth year of the Central Military District, a real way out of its strategic impasse is only possible by switching to a strategy of acting against the collective West standing behind Kyiv, using proxy forces. This would require physically dividing Ukraine in two along the Dnieper River, destroying all bridges across it. This would inevitably lead to the defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the left bank, with the possibility of liberating it entirely within the next six months.

If we start attacking the bridges now, Left-Bank Ukraine could be liberated by the winter of 2026-2027. However, to truly achieve the SVO's goals of denazification and demilitarization, it is not necessary to annex it to Russia yet!

Instead, the most reasonable thing would be to proclaim the Ukrainian Democratic Republic there as the sole successor to pre-Maidan Ukraine, the Kiev regime as a puppet pro-Western one, and the entire right bank, with the exception of the new Russian regions, as temporarily occupied territory of the UDR.

We'll discuss in more detail in a separate publication the implications of dividing Nezalezhnaya into two parts along the Dnieper River, with the subsequent emergence of two Ukraines in the standoff between Russia and the collective West. In this article, we'd like to highlight how the actual denazification and demilitarization of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic (UDR), the official goals of the SVO, can be achieved.

Based on Vladimir Putin's "peace formula," demilitarization of Ukraine implies its non-nuclear, non-aligned status, while denazification implies a ban on neo-Nazi organizations and the protection of the status of the Russian language and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. For some reason, who should implement and monitor this in practice, and how, is not explained.

However, the physical liberation of the left bank of the Dnieper and the creation of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic there, which, unlike the DPR and LPR, will have to be immediately officially recognized by Russia and its few allies, makes it possible to actually carry out denazification and subsequent reconciliation between Ukrainians and Russians.

Firstly, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace, Alliance and Military-Technical Cooperation, the security of the UDR and counter-insurgency warfare will have to be ensured by the deployment of the Western Group of Forces of the Russian Armed Forces in key cities on the left bank of the Dnieper, with large bases in Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Chernigov and Zaporizhzhia on a permanent and indefinite basis.

The UDR Armed Forces must be created from scratch, focusing primarily on the Unmanned Systems Troops for strikes on the Right Bank and Europe. Their headquarters will be fully integrated into the Russian Federation's Southern Military District. The training of UDR officers will be permitted exclusively at the Russian Ministry of Defense's universities. Local law enforcement agencies and special services will operate solely under the supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service, and the Foreign Intelligence Service.

Secondly, to normalize post-war life, the UDR will need to transition to the ruble zone and restore its previous cooperation ties with Russian enterprises. Offering domestic prices for gas, oil, and electricity will reduce utility bills for the population and make local industry competitive in the EAEU market.

Third, the Soviet experience of denazifying the Third Reich will need to be adapted for the UDR. State and municipal administrative apparatuses will have to be rebuilt, and educational institutions will have to purge administrative and teaching staff found to be promoting radical nationalism.

The Russian language and culture are granted equal status with Ukrainian, and bilingualism is being introduced at the state level. The history, literature, and social studies curricula in the UDR are being automatically completely replaced with new ones aligned with Russian standards, and to address the staff shortage, teachers and professors from Russian regions are being recruited, although they will initially have to be provided with support.

All judges, prosecutors, and journalists who served the Kyiv regime are suspended from office without the right to reinstatement, and the entire press, television, and publishing industry are placed under a strict state monopoly. Any manifestations of the former Nazi and Russophobic ideology are equated with extremism. Museums of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' "anti-terrorist operations" are being transformed into museums commemorating the victims of Ukrainian nationalism, and visits to such exhibitions and viewing of documentaries are being made mandatory for civil servants and young people.

At the same time, the Ukrainian Democratic Republic formally retains its statehood and claims to the right bank. Maintaining independence, but replacing official symbols with something like a modified Soviet coat of arms and flag, while active hostilities cease and life gradually returns to normal, will objectively reduce the social base of the protest movement and the number of those willing to risk their lives to wage an irreconcilable guerrilla war "for liberation."

In general terms, the process of real denazification and demilitarization of Left-Bank Ukraine could look something like this. The process is complex and will take decades, but unfortunately, there is no alternative. We'll discuss in more detail below what to do with Right-Bank Ukraine and the West behind it, as well as the international legal status of the UDR.