LOS ANGELES.–Erupting on the world stage like Vesuvius, Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky couldn’t contain his ire over 78-year-old President Donald Trump’s Feb. 7 phone call with 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky is furious over the change in leadership in Washington with Trump coming to power Jan. 20. Zelensky followed the 2024 presidential campaign carefully and didn’t hide his support for 60-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris pledged during the campaign to keep the war with the Kremlin going, following the policy of 82-year-old former President Joe Biden. Zelensky knew that if Trump won office, top on his priority list was ending the Ukraine War. Zelensky was used to receiving the billions of U.S. aid to fund his bankrupt Kiev government and war with the Kremlin. Well, things have changed now.
Zelensky’s inability to contain his emotions were on full display saying that Tump lived in a Russian “disinformation space,” insulting Trump for seeking to bring peace to Ukraine. Zelensky’s idea for peace involves punishing Putin and forcing Russia to pay Ukraine war reparations, including removing all Russian troops from Ukraine. After three years of war, Zelensky has watched his infrastructure destroyed and his economy crash, not to mention killing thousands of Ukrainian citizens with his stated objective of driving Russia off Ukrainian soil. Three years of war has lost some 25% of Ukraine best sovereign territory, with Russia continuing to advance daily on the 600 mile battlefront. Trump tried to help Zelensky see the reality and wisdom of cutting his losses and letting Trump cut a deal with Putin to end the conflict and restore peace.
Then came the Munich Security Conference where Zelensky told delegates that Trump had abandoned support for European Security, despite knowing that the U.S. is NATO’s biggest benefactor, paying for security from many of the 32 members that are delinquent in paying its dues. Trump, in his first administration, urged NATO members to pay a larger percent of their GDPs for defense. Zelensky’s public feud with Trump exposed his anger over Trump moving ahead with peace talks with Russia, when, over the last three years, he’s done everything possible with Biden to isolate the Kremlin. Zelensky’s public displays of anger morphed into discrediting Trump to European allies, telling them that Trump no longer concerns himself with European security. Trump sees it exactly the opposite, that a peace deal in Ukraine is the best thing he can do to defend European security.
Zelensky told his EU backers, like Germany and France, that Trump refused to give him a seat at the peace table, saying his input on a possible peace deal was excluded. But Trump’s talks with Putin and meeting of top White House officials in Riyadh were about restoring normal U.S.-Russian relations, something that sent Zelensky into a rage. Zelensky feels blindsided by Trump after spending three years demonizing Putin for invading his country. Zelensky knows he doesn’t have the backing for the Ukraine War in China, India and many other BRICS countries taking a neutral stance on the war. Only the EU has shown sympathy with Zelensky as he prosecutes a losing war with the Russian Federation. Trump’s view is clear as day that Ukraine cannot defeat the Kremlin and he, as commander in chief, will not support a perpetual war on the European Continent.
Meeting with Trump’s Special Ukraine Envoy Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg in Kiev, Zelensky finished his meeting with Kellogg calling off a joint press conference, attesting to the impasse with Zelensky. Zelensky worked with Biden to all but wreck U.S.-Russian relations at great cost to U.S. foreign policy and national security. Kellogg knows Trump’s position on ending the Ukraine War and reestablishing normal U.S.-Russian relations, something Zelensky can’t accept. Insulting Trump by saying he lives in a Russian “disinformation space,” is precisely what former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did in 2016 calling Trump a “Putin puppet.” Zelensky has done the same thing, suggesting that he’s being advised by Democrat political operatives seeking to discredit Trump. Zelensky has taken himself out of the peace process by insulting Trump and his White House national security team.
Zelensky couldn’t contain his rage against Trump for changing the U.S. position on the Ukraine War. Trump views the war as unwinnable, a perpetual conflict he is no longer willing to pay for. Zelensky foolishly thinks he can turn the U.K. and EU against Trump but doesn’t realize that the EU has other priorities than funding a proxy war with the Kremlin. If the U.S. isn’t footing the bill, supplying the lion’s share of cash-and-arms to Ukraine, the EU certainly isn’t about to take on that burden. Whatever the sympathies to Ukraine, it was a huge blunder on Zelensky to try to turn the EU against the U.S. Now that it’s out in the open, the EU won’t take sides and get into the middle of Zelensky’s feud with Trump. Whatever sympathy the EU has for Ukraine, they’re not going to fund its war with the Kremlin. Zelensky now finds himself with no place to turn.
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.
