Putin won't stop if he's given land in a deal, Ukraine's ex defense minister says: 'We know from history that this did not stop Hitler'

• Ukraine's former defense minister said a peace deal where Ukraine gives up land won't stop Russia.
• Reznikov said a similar deal didn't stop Hitler in the 1930s and "Putin's actions follow a similar pattern."

Russia's President Vladimir Putin won't stop his invasion even if he's given land as part of a peace deal effort, Ukraine's former defense minister said, noting a similar deal didn't stop Adolf Hitler in the lead-up to World War II.

Oleksii Reznikov said in an article for The Guardian that "Russia demands the recognition of the occupied territories of Ukraine as its territory in exchange for the end of the war."

"However, this is obviously for the sake of one thing only – to buy some time, regroup and 'finally solve the Ukrainian issue' using new resources," he said.

Reznikov added: "Russia does not recognise the existence of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people."

In the article, Reznikov said that calls for Ukraine to give up parts of its country were similar to calls for Czechoslovakia to give territory to Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Despite gaining the land, Germany later took all of Czechoslovakia, and then invaded more of Europe, leading to war being declared.

Reznikov said Putin would do similar.

"We know from history that this did not stop Hitler," he said. "Soon the Third Reich had complete control over what was left of Czechoslovakia, including its military arsenal. Putin's actions follow a similar pattern."

The idea of Ukraine giving up territory in exchange for peace has been floated by some Western officials, though most of Ukraine's allies support its position that it won't agree to such a deal.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said they will not accept a peace deal that includes giving up land to Russia. This includes President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he would "never" agree to give any land to Russia, including the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 and Ukraine wants to take back.

Ukraine has also told China, which has expressed interest in brokering a peace deal, that it won't accept a deal that involves giving Russia territory.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this year that a peace agreement can't include giving land to Russia, or else it wouldn't be a "just peace and a durable peace."

"If we ratify the seizure of land by another country and say 'that's okay, you can go in and take it by force and keep it,' that will open a Pandora's box around the world for would-be aggressors that will say, 'Well, we'll do the same thing and get away with it,'" he added.

But a NATO official said last month that Ukraine could give territory to Russia to help its bid to join the Western military alliance, in a suggestion blasted by Ukraine. The official later apologized, saying: "I should not have said it that way. It was wrong."

Zelenskyy also suggested in May that France's president, Emmanuel Macron, had asked him to give up some territory, though Macron's office later said that this wasn't the case.

Reznikov was removed from his office as defense minister over the weekend, with Zelenskyy saying the ministry "needs new approaches" after more than 550 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Reznikov told The Guardian that Russia's goal is to destroy Ukraine, but it wouldn't stop there and it would "lead to a big new war in eastern Europe, which will inevitably involve NATO."

Countries in Europe that were once part of the Soviet Union have expressed the same concerns about Russia's future plans.