US and allies discussing potential for Ukraine government in exile: report

[left-of-center2012]

Source: The Hill

The U.S. and their European allies have begun discussions about the potential for Ukraine’s government in exile as Russia's war on the country intensifies.

U.S. officials told CNN on Sunday that discussions have ranged from supporting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his government moving operations to the western city of Lviv, or setting up a government in neighboring Poland if elected leaders are forced to flee.

Previous assessments that Lviv might be relatively safe from Russia aggression due to its strategic location in the west have lost traction as Russia's apparent desire to overtake the entire country comes into focus. A number of Western countries have moved their diplomatic operations in Ukraine to Lviv, a centuries-old city about 40 miles from the border with Poland.

Officials said that Zelensky, who remains in the capital city of Kyiv, has rejected any conversation other than efforts to boost his country's fight against Russia.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/europe/597085-us-and-allies-discussing-potential-for-ukraine-government-in

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[PortTack]

1. There's no shame in moving their government if they have to. Your country needs you sir..ALIVE!

[SheltieLover]

3. Absolutely!

Z should grab family & go.

Sounds like jets are in the works.

Ukraine needs him ALIVE!

[SheltieLover]

4. Yes!!!

[Hoyt]

5. Support move. Although I hope they've already moved now that the

speculation- maybe a plan or decoy - has saturated the internet.

[Wingus Dingus]

6. He doesn't need to be in Kyiv to run things.

I appreciate he wants to stay as long as possible, but Ukraine needs him alive and making decisions more than they need him to be physically present right now.

[roamer65]

7. Putler will never take Western Ukraine.

It’s ovewhelmingly Ukrainian and the point of entry for arms shipments.

Very possible there will be an Western independent and free Ukraine and a Russian occupied Eastern Ukraine.

[peppertree]

10. +1

Eastern European history, as you know, is littered with border changes and the movement and/or exile of leaders on the receiving end of some invasion or other (by Russia, more often than not).

And I doubt any were as compelling as Zelensky's case - a man this world needs like very few others right now.

[Dan]

8. I think that Zelensky will not leave Ukraine.

Zelensky has become more than a President, he has become a symbol. He is a symbol of what it means and takes to be free. I’ve thought that we would not get directly involved in this conflict but more and more I have doubts about that. Looking at Putin, hearing the reports of what he has said and his intentions, I think that we will have no choice.

The US elected an actor named Trump. The Ukraine elected a comedian named Zelensky. We got a clown, they got a leader.

If Putin succeeds in killing Zelensky it becomes a wake up call to all of us. If Putin takes Ukraine it becomes a wake up call to the West. How much is enough and when will Putin be satisfied? I am thinking that there will never be enough for Putin and the people will put pressure on their governments to come face to face with evil.

I am not sure what the GOP will do or on whom side they will be on - but I think that eventually we will say enough is enough. I think that Putin is going to hold the world hostage to his needs and eventually we will have to stand up to the bully.

My thoughts.

[left-of-center2012]

9. The bully has nuclear arms

[Dan]

11. The bully has nuclear arms... yes

But that is also a gun to his head. Does he want to die?

If yes, then he has nothing to lose and doesn’t care if he dies. The question is how many will he take with him.

If no, then he wants to live, and MAD is in play.

Plus, he has a girlfriend and 4 kids in Switzerland - does he care about his children? Because once the nukes flies - then the whole world is at risk.

Does a sane man/woman play with the nuclear threat or with total destruction? And if he’s not sane, then….

[Doremus]

12. Lviv is in Ukraine. nt

[left-of-center2012]

14. Yes, I know

Note the map I have in the OP.

[Sgent]

13. French Government in Exile

is the only one that I've heard of being used successfully -- and that was because DeGaulle was able to organize the Reistantance, the French Navy, and all of the Colonial troops out of the country at the time of surrender, then go in with the Allies and retake France. I would not blame him for leaving if he had no other choice, but if NATO won't support him now, I see no reason to believe they will support him in a year or five.

[bluewater]

15. If Zelensky leaves Kyiv, it means the city is about to surrender.

It would be a major propaganda victory for the Russian invaders if President Zelensky leaves Kyiv while the city is still actively fighting.

It could lead to wholesale collapse of resistance in the eastern half of the country.

[C Moon]

17. Are you surprised? A huge country like Russia, attacking a small country like Ukraine.

I expected this.
I just think it's awesome how the Ukraine citizens are fighting against such a huge country, and forcing putin to bring on the big guns, and how this has brought the world together against putin.

It's absolutely horrid that so many are dying and suffering because of that fascist, but putin's in for a WORLD of hurt

[left-of-center2012]

18. While Ukraine is smaller than Russia ...

Ukraine is the largest country in Europe
excluding Russia.

[C Moon]

16. putin: "No! No! No! No! No!"

[wnylib]

19. What about helping Ukraine win?

It's sensible to plan for the future, for just in case, if it becomes necessary for Zelensky to run the government in exile.

But we could give Ukraine enough aid to win. They are such strong, good fighters that there is no doubt in my mind that if they had had sufficient weapons from the start, they would have driven Russia out of their country.

Why focus on defeatism? Why assume from the start, as most people have done, that Ukraine would eventually lose? Give Ukraine the weapons to defend itself. Use some creative strategies to defeat Russia.

Plans for setting up a government in exile sound like a funeral before the patient has died.

[left-of-center2012]

20. What would some 'creative strategies' be?

[wnylib]

21. Ukrainians have come up with

quite a few of their own, like diverting and confusing Russian troops by changing road signs. So, with enough if the right weapons, imagine them diverting Russians into a preset ambush, a dead end or location that makes them sitting ducks, then bombarding them.

A combination of guerilla tactics with powerful weapons.

[BlueWavePsych]

22. K&R