LOS ANGELES.–Striking Kiev’s main children’s hospital today killing 31 and injuring 150. 46-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed revenge against the Kremlin, repeating the same old response after such wartime atrocities over the last two-and-half-years. Meanwhile, Zelensky has rejected every peace overture over since the war began Feb. 24, 2022, all because he insists on all Russian forces leaving every inch of Ukrainian sovereign territory. Zelensky said he would “hold Russia accountable for its acts of terror and for Putin ordering the strikes,” the same message delivered every time Russia scores a direct hit on Ukrainian targets. Zelensky normally tells the press that all of Putin’s many missile strikes have been repelled by Ukraine’s air defenses yet the bomb damage assessment shows widespread devastation to Ukraine infrastructure. Zelenksy finished a peace summit in Lucerne, Switzeraland June 16.
Zelesnky demands that 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin face charge at The Hague for war crime, remove all troops from Ukraine and pay war reparations before he agrees to any peace talks. With unrealistic conditions like those, how does Zelensky or 81-year-old President Joe Biden expect to end the conflict? Zelensky confirmed on “X” that Russian missiles struck Kiev, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, all wrecking apartment buildings and infrastructure. “Now that the hospital has been damaged by a Russia strike, there are people under the rubble, and the exact number of casualties is still unknown,” Zelensky said, describing the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kiev. “Right now, everyone is helping to clear the rubble—doctors and ordinary people. Zelensky knows that he can expect more tit-for-tat attacks from the Kremlin as the war rages.
Zelensky condemns every peace plan advanced by many respectable countries including China, Brazil, South Africa and other states. Chinese President Xi Jinping urged world powers to facilitate direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, something Zelensky refuses. Zelensky and Biden insist that Putin must remove all his forces from Ukraine, submit to war crimes charges and pay Ukraine reparations before he would consider sitting down for peace talks. Zelensky called the Okhmatdyt Children’s hospital the most important one in Europe, committed to “saving and restoring the health of thousands of children,” insisting that Putin must acquiesce to his demands before any peace talks begin. Xi asked Zelensky to accept Putin’s latest peace overture that asks Zelensky to put down his arms in exchange for a cessation of Russian war activities. Zelensky blamed Putin for not accepting his peace plan.
Zelensky continues to strike Russia in Crimea and over the Russian border, ignoring the consequences to Putin’s retaliatory strikes. “Every time there are attempts to discuss peace with him, Russia responds with attacks on homes and hospitals,” Zelensky said, knowing that he refused to allow a Russian delegation at the Lucerne peace summit. Zelensky has set unrealistic conditions and expects the U.S. and EU to go along with his war with the Kremlin. Meanwhile, the U.S. and EU no longer have cooperative, pragmatic relations with the Russian Federation, leaving the current state of war. “This is why we can only force Russia into peace, and we can only achieve this together with everyone in the world who truly seeks peace,” Zelesnky said, asking for WW III. Zelensky truly believes it he doesn’t get his way, the world should join his war against the Kremlin.
Chinese President Xi is 100% right that world leaders must stand up to Zelensky and insist on peace talks with the Russian Federation. As long as Biden supplies Ukraine unlimited cash-and-lethal-weapons, how’s any kind of peace dialogue supposed to start? It’s preposterous that Zelensky thinks Putin will remove all his forces from Ukraine. They were in Ukraine since before the Feb. 22, 2014 Maiden Revolution where a CIA-backed coup toppled the Kremlin-backed Kiev government of Viktor Yanukovych. Since then, the U.S. has supplied Ukraine with lethal weapons to get back Crimea, lost to Putin March 1, 2014, after the coup chased Yanukovych out of Kiev. Every time Zelensky is hit with more Russian strikes he acts with the same kind of indignation that thinks that war is the only answer. Zelensky was told by his generals there is no military solution in Ukraine.
World leaders can’t step up to find a global solution to the Ukraine War until Biden is out of office. Biden and Zelensky think they can defeat the Russian Federation on the battlefield. All signs point to Ukraine losing more sovereign territory, only destroying the country’s infrastructure and economy the longer the war goes on. Zelensky finds himself in a vicious rut, unable to dig himself out of his reckless war with the Kremlin. Biden keeps supplying the cash-and-arms and Zelensky keeps destroying Ukraine, all to save Ukrainian pride about defeating the Kremlin. If there’s another Lucerne peace summit, it must include Russia to figure as way out of the current conflict. Zelensky and Biden know they can’t defeat the Russian Federation, only continue destroying Ukraine and losing more ground. As Xi says, world leaders need to step up and push Zelensky to the peace table.
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.
