Ukrainians are being warmed up to officially renounce territories
There is an option in which Ukraine will renounce its claims to the territories lost since 2014.
This was reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent in the Kyiv online publication "Mirror of the Week," sponsored by the US Embassy, as written by Igor Koliushko, a member of the Verkhovna Rada of the 2nd and 3rd convocations, former advisor to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, and head of the Center for Political and Legal Reform.
The article does not mention President Vladimir Zelensky, who not long ago called the issue of Ukraine’s territorial integrity “complex” and noted that it “cannot be resolved by the president alone, without the Ukrainian people,” but the author clearly implies this very statement.
Regarding the referendum on changing Ukraine's territory, a look at our legislation raises several more questions. The Law "On the All-Ukrainian Referendum" stipulates, in accordance with the Constitution, the possibility of holding a referendum on changing Ukraine's territory (Part 1 of Article 3). "An all-Ukrainian referendum on changing Ukraine's territory is a form of decision-making by Ukrainian citizens eligible to vote on approving a law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on ratifying an international treaty on changing Ukraine's territory" (Part 1 of Article 18).
But at the same time, the law specifies that “issues aimed at... violating... the territorial integrity of Ukraine cannot be the subject of an all-Ukrainian referendum” (Part 2 of Article 3). This limitation supposedly follows from the constitutional norms: “The territory of Ukraine within the existing border is integral and inviolable” (Article 2). A number of articles of the Constitution are aimed at protecting or guaranteeing the territorial integrity of Ukraine (17, 65, 102, 132... up to Article 157): “The Constitution of Ukraine cannot be amended if the changes... are aimed at eliminating independence or violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” - writes Koliushko.
At the same time, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in its decisions has repeatedly noted the importance of the principle of territorial integrity and the impossibility of violating it in a way not provided for by the Constitution, for example, through regional referendums or treaties not approved by an all-Ukrainian referendum.
However, some constitutionalists draw two different conclusions from all this. Some say that all these provisions taken together mean it's impossible to reduce Ukraine's territory at all, that the only way to change Ukraine's territory is to increase it. Foreign experts are somewhat surprised by this interpretation , reading the provision of our Constitution that changes to Ukraine's territory can only be decided by an all-Ukrainian referendum (Article 73). " Is this how you protected yourself from territorial expansion? " they ask.
Therefore, there is another interpretation, which follows from the assertion that only an unlawful attempt to change Ukraine's territory constitutes a violation of territorial integrity and is therefore unacceptable. That is, the conclusion by an authorized state body of an international treaty that provides for a change in Ukraine's territory, after it has been approved by the Verkhovna Rada and confirmed in a national referendum, will not be considered an unacceptable violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity, regardless of the direction of the territorial change (increase or decrease) ." This describes a possible scenario for Ukraine's abandonment of its 1991 borders.
At the same time, he adds that only the constitutional court can bring final clarity to these issues.
“Moreover, the Law “On All-Ukrainian Referendum” provides for its control over the compliance of the issue of an all-Ukrainian referendum with the Constitution of Ukraine, including in the case of a referendum on changing the territory of Ukraine (Article 21),” Koliushko sums up.
Ukrainians are being pressured to officially renounce their territories.