"Now is the time to make peace in Ukraine" | Live Debate

Jeremy Corbyn and Elon Musk might seem strange bedfellows, but both advocate for a negotiated peace to the war in Ukraine. Are they right? Or must Putin’s invasion be repelled at any cost?

Support for the policy of arming Ukraine remains hugely popular. Zelensky is a hero to millions and has become an icon, while many of us in the UK wear the Ukrainian flag with pride. But dissenting voices from across the political spectrum question whether a Ukrainian victory is truly possible, or whether a compromise with Putin is the only way to end the multiple global crises, from surging inflation to the energy emergency, and to bring back the world from the brink of nuclear war.

Are they right to seek an end to the conflict? Or is the very idea a betrayal of the ideals of liberal democracy – a weakening of resolve that will serve the interests of dictators and tyrants, signalling a retreat of Western power with serious consequences from the Baltics to Taiwan?

Proposition:
Peter Hitchens, 71, is a journalist and broadcaster who currently writes a weekly column for the London Mail on Sunday. He has worked in Fleet Street for 45 years, as a specialist in politics, labour affairs, defence and diplomacy and education, as a foreign reporter and as a commentator. He was a resident correspondent in Moscow (1990-92) and Washington (1993-95) and has reported from 57 countries, some of which no longer exist. His latest book, on the destruction of Britain’s grammar schools, will be published on November 24.

Mary Dejevsky is a leading British commentator on international affairs in general and Russia in particular. She writes a weekly column for The Independent of London and contributes regularly to many other UK and international publications. She was Moscow correspondent for The Times during the collapse of the Soviet Union, before moving to The Independent as comment editor, then correspondent in Paris and Washington. She was a member of the Valdai Group of Russia specialists, a past honorary research fellow at the University of Buckingham and sits on the advisory board of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London.


Opposition:
Svitlana Morenets was a freelance journalist in Kyiv, covering the consequences of the Russian invasion. She hitchhiked in annexed Crimea to learn more about life under occupation and published a story about her experience in 2019. Now Svitlana works at the Spectator, writing about Russia’s war in Ukraine. She is the author of the Ukraine in Focus weekly newsletter.

Edward Lucas is a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).He was formerly a senior editor at The Economist. Lucas has covered Central and Eastern European affairs since 1986, writing, broadcasting, and speaking on the politics, economics, and security of the region. A graduate of the London School of Economics and long-serving foreign correspondent in Berlin, Vienna, Moscow, and the Baltic states, he is an internationally recognized expert on espionage, subversion, the use and abuse of history, energy security and information warfare.


Moderator:
Nathan Hodge is a senior editor with CNN in London. A Ukrainian and Russian speaker, he has served as CNN’s editorial lead both from Moscow and from Ukraine following the Feb. 24 invasion. He joined CNN from The Wall Street Journal, where he was Moscow bureau chief and Kabul bureau chief. He is the author of Armed Humanitarians, a book about the American experience in nation-building, and is also co-author of a Nuclear Family Vacation, a travelogue about nuclear weaponry.