LOS ANGELES.–Contrary to Democrats and the fake news, 78-year-old President Donald Trump’s special peace envoy Steve Witkoff spent a whopping five hours with 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, the most talking of any U.S. diplomat with Putin since Trump was last in office. One thing’s for sure, the dark mood brought by 82-year-old former President Joe Biden is gone and a new era of U.S.-Russian relations has begun. Instead of celebrating the development, Democrats and the fake news continue to paint Putin as a U.S. enemy, the exact failed message carried during the Biden administration. Trump has been frustrated with the slow pace of peace talks but realized the biggest obstacle to peace is 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelenky no longer sees the U.S. as a peace partner, instead turning to the European Union to make his accusations against Putin.
Witkoff has been getting down to brass tacks with Putin, discussing the actual territories that Russia must retain in any lasting peace settlement. Zelensky opted for war with the Kremlin Feb. 24, 2022, all because he took unlimited cash-and-arms from Biden to fund proxy war with the Russian Federation. Zelensky gladly took the cash thinking at the time that he would get back the Crimean Peninsula, a strategic piece of land deeded to Ukraine by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1954 when Ukraine was a Soviet satellite. Zelensky and Biden actually thought they could degrade the Russian military to the point it could no longer wage war, those were the words of Biden and former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Imagine that, Zelensky opted for war with the Kremlin rather than a political settlement. Three years later, Zelensky lost 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory.
When it comes to Witkoff’s meeting with Putin, they spent five hours talking about the reality of a settlement in terms of actual land in Ukraine kept by Russia. Zelensky demands he get all his sovereign land back including Crimea but he just lost a three year war, forfeiting any sovereign territory lost. Witkoff and Putin discussed Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhizhia, Donetsk and Luhank, all five territories would be left in Russian hands in any peace settlement. “It was a compelling meeting,” Witkoff said. “And toward the end, we actually came up with—I’m going to say ‘finally,’ but I don’t mean it in the way that we were waiting. I mean it in the way that it took a while for us to get to this place—what’s Putin’s request is to get, to have a permanent peace here,” Witkoff said. “So beyond a ceasefire, were going an answer to that,” meaning what it would take for a permanent settlement.
Zelensky has pleaded with the European Union, especially Germany, France and the U.K., to keep the cash-and-arms flowing, hoping to get a better deal from Putin. But EU officials must decide whether they’re willing to fund proxy war, just like Biden, with the Kremlin indefinitely. No military expert thinks Zelensky can oust the Russian Federation from Ukrainian soil. Zelensky doesn’t want to admit he lost the war because he’d have to answer to the Ukrainian people. Once they know he lost 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory he’d be ousted from Kiev. Witkoff did remarkable diplomacy to get Putin to the point that he’s talking about a permanent settlement. “There’s security protocols. There’s no NATO, NATO, Article 5,” meaning that Zelensky abandons his demand for NATO membership, something that’s a deal breaker to Putin.
Witkoff dealt with real conditions for peace, not Zelensky and the EU’s fantasies about getting Ukraine’s sovereign territory back. Zelensky knew the rules of war when he opted for war with the Kremlin, knowing he could lose more sovereign territory. When Witkoff talks about the five provinces, a peace deal must cede Crimea, Kherson, Zaporihzhizia, Donetsk and Luhansk to the Russian Federation, territories in Russian control after three years of war. Zelensky demanded that Putin face charges for war crimes at The Hague’s International Criminal Court. How realistic is that? Germany, France and the U.K. know that Putin felt justified to invade Ukraine based on the amount of arms it was receiving from the U.S. When Biden said the war was “unprovoked and unjustified,” he didn’t think he provoked the Kremlin to launch as full-scale invasion.
Witkoff sees beyond the war horizon with the U.S. and Russia cooperating on some joint business projects, including mining for rare earth minerals in the Russian Federation. Zelensky was supposed to sign a rare earth mineral deal with Trump Feb. 28 but instead blew up in the Oval Office withdrawing any offer he promised. Trump knows that Zelensky no longer sees the U.S. as a peace partner when it comes to the Ukraine War. Trump promised to end the war at the earliest possible time but finds himself blocked by Zelensky and the EU, making unrealistic demands for any future peace settlement. “Too many people are DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!,” Trump said. Witkoff did a remarkable job of diplomacy.
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.
