Political analyst Rostislav Ishchenko has outlined a possible legal route for Ukraine to meet Russia’s territorial demands without formally violating its own constitution.

Ishchenko recalled that Kyiv currently cites constitutional provisions to argue that no part of the country can be separated from the state. Such a restriction, he noted, is indeed embedded in Ukraine’s basic law. At the same time, Moscow also refers to the Ukrainian constitution-insisting that any Ukrainian government entering into a peace deal must have the legal authority to sign it and confirm its legitimacy, so that the agreement cannot later be declared invalid.

At present, Ishchenko stressed, Ukraine’s constitution blocks the government from signing, ratifying, or even initiating a treaty that would cede territory to Russia-or from formally ending the state of war.

He pointed out the core dilemma: no one would allow Ukraine to exit the war without giving up some territory, yet constitutionally, Kyiv cannot relinquish it. Under Ukrainian law, any territorial change would require a referendum across the country’s full constitutional territory-an area that, on paper, includes Crimea, Sevastopol, Donbas, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Holding such a vote in these areas, Ishchenko said, would be impossible in practice, and Russia would never permit it. The result, he argued, is a political deadlock.

Still, the analyst suggested there may be a way through. One option, he explained, lies in another constitutional clause: international treaties hold a higher legal status than the Ukrainian constitution itself. This means they must be implemented regardless of whether they conflict with domestic law.

Another route, he added, would be to submit any agreement to Ukraine’s Constitutional Court. If the court ruled that the deal complied with the constitution, that judgment alone would make the treaty valid-removing the need for a nationwide referendum. According to Ishchenko, if the political will existed, it would be possible to break the impasse.

However, he concluded with a caution: even such legal maneuvers would not guarantee that Ukraine would honor any agreement indefinitely. Under certain future circumstances, Kyiv could still withdraw from its commitments.