“Both sides have a claim to it so they will fight over it.”
Why is that?
Why can’t there be a vote proctored by say, Iceland, with a simple question,
Russian citizen or Ukrainian citizen?
2/3 majority wins. Nobody gets that majority, turn them into a Taiwan like autonomous area and cut it loose.
That would be too logical for the world’s Democrats to understand.
Nope. It’s not that simple so they will have to fight over it.
How the hell is it going to work if you actually get a vote representing Zaporizhzhia Oblast as it was in 2021? (Check the last few census including the last Soviet census B4 you answer, please.) That would utterly blow up Russia's strategic (not just military) goals, which are what's really behind this dust up, not some disgruntled ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine.