There has now been talk of peace from both Washington and the Kremlin.  The key issue that's preventing advancement of the peace process is the status of the annexed region of Ukraine.  The Kremlin is not willing to give up control of this region.  Given it's present unwillingness to negotiate, now is the time to consider new, hybrid approaches.  To understand why one can look at history through an ethnic lens.

War in Ukraine is a clear and unjust unilateral military aggression of Russian Federation.  The Kremlin is clearly in the wrong for starting the war - accusations of a Nazi regime in eastern Ukraine do no warrant a military invasion, without any attempt at mitigation via UN.  Annexation of this region of Ukraine is a clear violation of international law.  Yet as it is, this appears to be a partition of territory based on ethnic divisions.  The partition of Soviet Union left ethnic minorities across borders and the region that has been annexed by Russian Federation has the highest concentration of ethnic Russians in all of Ukraine.

But ethnic divisions aren't as clearcut as them may seem. Russian is widely spoken throughout Ukraine, no matter the nationality of the speakers.  Before the war I was watching political debates on Ukrainian television where speakers where exchanging replicas in Ukrainian and Russian at the same time.  Before the war Ukraine was a multi-cultural society.  This is in large part due to a long history of Ukraine being a part of the Russian world.  If we go back to the beginning of the Rus, starting with 9th century, Kiev was known as the "mother of Russian city states".  The Mongol invasion divided the Kievan Rus, with eastern and northern Duchies accepting Mongol rule and the Kingdom of Ruthenia (with Kiev as it's capital) looking to the West for support to end its vassalage to the Golden Horde.  In mid 14th century Poland annexed Ruthenia, but continuing revolts against the Polish rule lead to Ukraine aligning itself with the Russian Tsar in 17th century.

The status of the annexed region of Ukraine is now preventing peace talks from proceeding.  And, until recent history, the now annexed region had a history and status different from the rest of Ukraine.  Until late 18th century it was part of the Crimean Khanate, under Ottoman protectorate.  Then it became part of Russian Empire and until the Ukrainian SSR was declared it was known as the New Russia.  So, it stands to reason that hybrid status of this region should be considered.  Can peace talks start with proposing that both Kiev and Moscow maintain control over this region?