Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70, continues to destroy Ukraine’s power grid before the long, cold Ukrainian Winter leaves many citizens in the cold and the dark. All the Western press reports is about glorious battlefield victories, retaking Russian-controlled territory, clearly beating Russia on the battlefield. But what good are all of 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky battlefield victories if Ukraine has been turned in rock pile? Western military officials, especially in the U.K., talk of the imminent collapse of the Russian military when Putin has fought a successful air war, making life in Ukraine more impossible by the day. Putin has offered to go to a neutral peace table for a ceasefire and peace talks, something rejected by Zelensky and Kiev officials. Zelensky still thinks he can drive the Russian Federation out of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, not supported by reality.
Gen. Mark Miley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of state, emphatically stated last week that there is no military solution in Ukraine. Miley urged both sides to sit down and find a political solution to the conflict. Zelensky worries that Putin will not get out of Ukraine, something Zelensky demanded. Zelensky said last month that he would not negotiate with Russia unless Putin was removed from powers. Where does Zelensky get the temerity to think he can decide a head of state, when her receives all the aid-and-arms from the United States? Zelensky thinks he’s calling the shots with Putin because he’s given unlimited cash-and-arms from the U.S. to pay f or Kiev’s bankrupt government and war against the Kremlin. Knowing the daily destruction to Ukraine’s infrastructure, Zelensky’s nine-month war has caused only carnage, infrastructure destruction and the worst refugee crisis since WW II.
Zelensky was offered a way out of the crisis in March with Putin offereing to stop military operations if Kiev recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, and Russia sovereignty over Crimea. Zelensky rejected Putin’s peace overtures and proceeded with U.S. cash-and-arms to fight a bloody proxy war against the Russian Federation. President Joe Biden, 90, is equally guilty as Zelensky for fueling the war against the Kremlin. Biden has given Zelensky a blank check to fund the Ukraine government and proxy war against the Kremlin. Biden’s 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 45-uyear-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have been all in the proxy war against the Kremlin. Never in U.S. history have relations with Russia and China been worse than under the Biden regime. Biden refuses to apply pressure on Zelensky to go to the peace table.
All the talk of the brutality of Putin’s air war against Ukraine’s civilian population completely denies that Zelensky had choices from the beginning to settle the conflict. Talking about Ukraine infrastructure destruction is late in the game since Zelensky decided in some macho way to take on the Kremlin. “Russian strikes are plunging Ukraine into the Stone Age,” said Anastasia Pyrochenko, a resident in a 26-story high rise that has less than one hour of power a day. Biden and Zelensky act like there’s no way out of the conflict other than war with the Kremlin. “Worst case scenario. Actually. I don’t like to talk about that, but I have to be prepared if we [do no] have electricity, blackout, no water, no heading, no services and no communication, said Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitskhko. Klitchko’s referring to the already serious loss of power and city service in Kiev.
Gen. Miley emphasized last week that there is no military solution in Ukraine. Biden and Zelensky thought they could vanquish the Russian military and topple Putin’s regime. Now that they know for the chief U.S. general that it’s not happening, what’s taking Biden and Zelensky so long to open up ceasefire and peace talks? Watching the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure should concern Zelensky that he’s putting his people through an unnecessary ordeal to fight the Russian Federation. Zelensky thinks that if waits long enough he’ll have more leverage in eventual peace talks. But what’s left of Ukraine during an already harsh winter, without power, water or heat, are intolerable conditions for Ukraine’s citizens. When does a leader act responsibly to protect his people, not his ego? Gone are the days when Zelensky actually thought he would topple the Russian Federation.
Time for ceasefire and peace talks are long overdue, with Biden and Zelensky continuing to wage proxy war against the Kremlin. Biden and Zelensky need to accept reality, do what’s necessary to end the brutal war but, more importantly, save lives in Ukraine. Talking about battlefield successes does nothing to restore power in an electrical grid that’s battered daily by Russia’s air assault. “The Russians cannot win on the battlefield and therefore they use cold and darkness as a weapon against the civilian population, trying to sow panic, depression and demoralize Ukrainians,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, analyst at the Penta Think Tank in Kiev. Zelensky has martyred the Ukrainian people to prove he can defend Ukraine against the Russian occupiers. But the longer the war goes, the more the Ukrainian people suffer, all to preserve Zelensky’s ego battling Putin.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
