LOS ANGELES.–As long as the U.S. and EU continue to demonize 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, it’s going to be difficult for 78-year-old President Donald Trump to get the long-awaited Ukraine peace. Trump doesn’t have a partner in the U.S. or foreign press or the EU for that matter to get a peace deal, ending the bloody three-year-plus war that decimated Ukraine and resulted in Ukraine losing 25% of its best sovereign territory. Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky is Trump biggest foe for peace, seeking in to continue the war as long as the U.S. or EU pays for it. Zelensky doesn’t want to admit to the Ukrainian people that he lost the war, but, more importantly, 25% of Ukraine best sovereign territory. Zelensky fears that he’ll be ousted from Kiev just like his former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who Zelensky demonizes as a traitor.
Zelensky is so worried about getting toppled he worries more about his internal battles to save his job than anything Putin could do to Ukraine. Zelensky has been lying to the Ukrainian people for over three years of war, telling them nightly that he’s winning the war. Nothing could be further from the truth. Shortly after the war started Feb. 24, 2022, Putin offered to end the conflict if Zelensky recognized Russian sovereignty over Crimea and accepted independence of Donetsk and Luhansk. Putin had troop in Ukraine in Crimea and the Donbas region, protecting Russian speaking enclaves in Donetsk and Luhansk. Governors of Donetsk and Luhansk asked that Russia take over management of the territories, making clear they wanted no part of the pro-Western Kiev government. Zelensky rejected Putin’s offer and instead partnered with the U.S. to battle the Kremlin.
Zelensky knows the history of his country where a Feb. 22, 2014 pro-Western, CIA-backed coup toppled the duly elected Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych. Zelensky fears the same fate as Yanukovych if the Ukrainian people knew that he lost the war with the Kremlin and 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory. Zelensky thinks that if he can keep the war going, telling EU leaders he won’t forfeit more sovereign land to Russia, he won’t have to admit he lost the war. Meeting with Putin last week, U.S. Special Ukraine Envoy Steve Witkoff rejected views of Putin that he was a former KGB man that can’t be trusted. Zelensky plays off those stereotypes going so war to say Trump has been duped by the Kremlin. Witkoff said his dealing with Putin have been entirely professional and responsible, refuting the idea that he’s just a crazed dictator.
Zelensky keeps demonizing Putin as a treacherous former KGB operative, someone who can’t be trusted for anything. Putin dealt responsibly for years supplying the EU with cheap Russian oil and natural gas before Biden implemented his Russian oil embargo. How did Putin engage in a long-standing business relationship with the EU before the Ukraine War? Zelensky claims Putin cannot be trusted for any reason, especially that he’s not interest in stealing more European territory. Zelensky insists that Ukraine is an integral part of Europe, when, in fact, historically it was a Soviet Satellite since 1918 and, before that, part of the Russian Empire. How was Ukraine part of Europe when it was always considered part of Russia? Yet Zelensky talks like Ukraine is an integral part of Europe. Zelensky has done everything possible to undermine Trump peace efforts with the Kremlin.
Witkoff said in dealing with Putin that getting a peace deal involves Ukraine ceding territory it’s taken over the last three years. Witkoff thinks that any future peace talks boils down to what Zelensky is willing to do for peace. Zelensky said he doesn’t recognize occupied Russian territories including Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk. Had Zelensky accepted Putin’s offer to end the conflict in March 2022, he would still posses Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, territory forfeited in the last three years of war. Zelensky moved the goal posts saying he wouldn’t support Russian sovereignty over Crimea. So, when it comes to accepting a peace deal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Zelensky would have to admit to the Ukrainian people that he’s forfeited Kherson, Zaporizhizia, Donetsk, Luhank and Crimea to Russia. Zelensky fears he’d be toppled from office.
Zelensky said that his government “do not recognized the occupied Ukrainian territories as Russian,” meaning that he’ll reject any peace plans that calls for Kiev to forfeit land to the Kremlin. Zelensky knows that he lost the territory fair-and-square during a three-year-old old war and now must pony up to resolve the conflict. Witkoff, who’s had more personal contacts with Putin, knows that Zelensky needs to accept any peace deal that swaps land for peace. Putin’s not going to accept a return of Ukrainian sovereign territory simply because Zelensky has demanded it. Witkoff sees with a peace deal a golden opportunity for the U.S. and Russia to develop cooperative, pragmatic relations to work on solving real problems. “Who doesn’t want to have a world where Russia and the United States are doing, collaboratively, good things together?” said Witkoff.
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.
