Batu Kutelia: “Any agreement is inconceivable without Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty”

International politics expert Batu Kutelia on Friday said any agreement on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine is “inconceivable” without restoring the country’s full territorial integrity and sovereignty, including Crimea.

“It is unfortunate that no one is talking about the issue of Crimea. In my view, any agreement is unimaginable without Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Kutelia stated. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s current strategy is to secure maximum results on the battlefield, and if that fails, to “buy time” in order to launch new offensives later.

According to Kutelia, Putin’s main goal is to claim victory domestically, maintain the oil-based economy that sustains his rule, and establish a new world order based on spheres of influence - a development closely monitored by other authoritarian states, particularly China.

He noted that an attack on Donbas could pave the way for an assault on Kharkiv, which he described as both an important economic and transport hub and, alongside Crimea, a symbolic target for Russia. Preventing such advances, he said, is a key focus of current discussions.

On security guarantees for Ukraine, Kutelia observed that American and European views are gradually converging.

“From the Trump administration’s perspective, Europe should do more to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, and European leaders are gradually discussing certain bilateral and multilateral assurances. For Russia, the red line here is Ukraine’s NATO membership. How much this is truly a red line, and not just a matter of perception, is hard to say, because two countries - Sweden and Finland - are part of this process. However, Ukraine’s NATO accession is perceived as a red line”, he said.

Kutelia also credited Donald Trump with pushing NATO members to raise defence spending in response to the Russian threat. “The Russian threat to Europe will not disappear in the near future, and finally NATO countries have moved toward the five percent defence spending target, which can be considered one of Trump’s successes”, he said.