LOS ANGELES.–Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, 56, said today it was open to negotiating settlement for the Ukraine War while 46-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remains in power. Zelensky suspended elections for the indefinite future due to martial law while he continues to prosecute his war with the Kremlin. All the optimistic predictions by the U.S. and British militaries about an imminent collapse of the Russian Army have all proved false, with Russia making slow but steady gains in Ukraine. Since the war started Feb. 24, 2022, Zelensky war junta predicted the Russian military would collapse and by the end of 2023, the pro-Western backed Kiev government would drive all Russian troops from Ukraine. Zelensky’s plans backfired with Russia gaining some 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, taking control the Black Sea coast.
Ukraine’s 43-year-old Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in Beijing yesterday that Ukraine was ready for negotiations but only if Russia removed all its troops from Ukraine’s sovereign territory. Since the Kremlin won’t remove troops from certain parts of Ukraine anytime soon, the conflict remains frozen with no end in sight. Kuleba insists that Russia must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity for any peace talks to begin. Zelensky and Kuleba are in no position to dictate the terms of any settlement with 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin has spent billions and sacrificed thousands of Russian troops in what he called a “special military operation” designed to demilitarize Ukraine from a flood of U.S. and NATO arms. Putin wants Zelensky to agree that he will abandon all plans to join NATO and recognize Russia, control over four Ukrainian provinces.
Zelensky knows that his partner in the Ukraine War, 81-year-old President Joe Biden, will no longer be part of the picture, withdrawing from his 2024 reelection campaign. Biden gave Zelensky a blank check to prosecute his war with the Kremlin, making the same demands to Putin that he must remove all his troops from Ukraine’s sovereign territory. Putin had troops in Russian-speaking enclaves of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea before the Feb. 24, 2022 Russian invasion and will no doubt have troops in Ukraine after a negotiated settlement. Zelensky’s decision to go to war against the Kremlin has cost Ukraine dearly, destroying much of its infrastructure, killing thousands of civilians and driving millions more into exile. Had Zelensky accepted Putin’s original peace offer in March 2022, he would have spared his country the widespread destruction and hardship.
Zelenksy and Kuleba know that Biden will no longer call the shots on the Ukraine War now that he’s a lame duck president with his term to expire Jan. 20, 2025. “Russia is generally open to a negotiation process. But first we have to understand how ready the Ukrainian side is for this and how much the Ukrainian side has permission for this from handlers,” Peskov said, referring to Biden. Peskov has said for some time that the war in Ukraine was between Washington and Moscow, not between Kiev and Moscow. Kuleba still talks like Ukraine calls the shots in any peace negotiation. Former President Donald Trump, who’s favored to win the 2024 presidential election, plans to end the Ukraine War as a top priority for his administration, forcing Ukraine and Russia into truce, ceasefire and peace negotiations. It’s not a negotiation when Kiev makes unrealistic demands.
Putin sees Zelensky as a U.S. puppet, taking orders from the White House. Now that Biden is out of the picture and Trump looms large in the background, it’s giving incentive on both sides to go to the peace table. If 2024 presumptive Democrat nominee Kamala Harris wins the election, Zelensky would get a continuation of the Biden policy. Kamala shows no indication that she would change anything, move the conflict to the peace table. “Because so far you see very different statements being made, and it is not quite clear yet. Besides, in addition to the problem with Zelensky’s legitimacy, there is also a problem with as [Ukrainian] legal ban on having any contacts and negotiations with the Russian side. Therefore, there is still a lot to be clarified and clarifications to be heard,” Peskov said. Only a push by Trump on Kiev would change Ukraine’s willingness to negotiate.
Whatever Zelensky and Kuleba do to posture before negotiations, it’s a matter of time before Trump settles the conflict if he wins the 2024 election. If Kamala were to beat Trump, the war will likely go on indefinitely, especially with Kamala’s inexperience on the world stage. If Kamala stays with the same national security team as Biden, including 62-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 47-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, nothing will change with the Ukraine War. Kamala goes along with the Democrat war hawks that blame all foreign policy failures on Putin, including the Ukraine War. Peskov has signaled that the Kremlin is open to real negotiations recognizing Zelensky as Ukraine’s head of state to end the conflict, as long as it’s a real negotiation. Zelensky and Biden have been unwilling to enter neutral peace talks to settle the conflict.
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.
