LOS ANGELES.–Russian President Vladimir Putin, 72, has an answer to the Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky and the European Union, launching  one of the biggest drone attacks in the over three-year-old.  Zelensky and the EU have been berating Putin for not attending peace talks in Istanbul, when no consensus has emerged how to settle the conflict.  One thing constructive that emerged from Instanbul was a 1,000-man prisoner swap for both sides in the conflict. Yet the EU saw fit with pressure from Zelensky to slap the Kremlin with more economic sanctions.  “The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.  President Donald Trump has worked feverishly on a peace plan with Putin to end the war.  But Zelensky and the EU have sabotaged the plan saying it gives too much away to Putin.

            So, when it comes to current drone attacks that killed at least 12, including three children, Zelensky and the EU continue to exacerbate the situation, provoking Putin to keep pressure on Ukraine to come to a realist peace plan.  EU leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer have demanded that Putin pull all his troops out of Ukraine. Russian was in Ukraine before the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion and will stay in Ukraine for the foreseeable future.  Putin has fought the war with Ukraine to stop the U.S. and NATO from encroaching on Russian national security.  Now that Trump has reversed former President Joe Biden’s proxy war strategy with Russia, Putin no longer sees the U.S. in the same boat as the EU and NATO.   Hitting Putin with more sanctions sent exactly the wrong message.

            Hitting Ukraine with a ferocious drone strike was Putin’s response to Zelensky and the EU making unrealistic demands, slamming him for not taking peace talks seriously.  Zelensky and the EU thought they could pressure Putin into meeting with Zelensky when there’s no consensus on what any plan would look like. Judging by Zelensky and EU demands, they want Putin to get out of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet.  Putin annexed Crimea March 1, 2014, after a pro-Western, CIA-backed coup toppled the Kremlin backed Kiev government of Viktor Yanukovych. “Every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia,” Zelensky said, throwing gasoline on the fire. Zelensky rejected Trump’s peace efforts because he sees Trump a pandering to Putin, giving in on too many of his demands.

            Zelensky calls Putin’s attacks on Ukraine “terrorist attacks,” expecting the U.S. and EU to join the fight against Putin.  Meeting with Trump Feb. 28 in the Oval Office, Zelensky threw a fit when Trump told him he didn’t have the cards.  Joining forces with the EU against Trump, Zelensky hasn’t helped peace in Ukraine, he’s made the situation far worse.  Trump was all but ready to submit a peace settlement to end the reckless Ukraine War that pushed the European Continent to the fringe of WW III or nuclear war.  Trump told Zelensky directly you’re going to start WW III if you don’t start making peace plans.  Zelensky’s response to Trump is that Ukraine is already in WW III, so why should he settle the conflict on Putin’s terms?  Zelenksy doesn’t care if the conflict spreads to other European countries, he wants Putin to get out of Ukraine and end the war.

            Zelensky refuses to accept the inevitable that he’ll have to trade land for peace to end the conflict with Russian.  Putin isn’t going to give up spoils of war when he’s sacrificed so much blood-and-treasure to wage war.  Zelensky tried to join the Western Alliance something that threatened Russia’s national security because of talk of joining NATO but, more importantly, taking cash-and-weapons from the U.S. and EU.  Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said “this was a combined, ruthless strike aimed at civilians. The enemy once again shows that its goal is fear and death.”  War is a two-way street with both sides launching primarily drone attacks requiring the least military costs.  But as long as Zelensky exploits the EU to antagonize Putin with more economic sanctions, the war will rage on indefinitely.  Putin wants peace but just not on Zelensky or the EU’s terms.

            Zelensky and the EU have taken the exact wrong approach with Putin to end the war.  Slapping Putin with more economic sanctions only proves the point that Ukraine has joined the Western Alliance in attacking the Russian Federation.  “Without pressure, nothing will change and Russia and its allies will only build up forces for such murder in Western countries,”  Zelensky’s Chief-of-Staff Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram.  Yermak repeats the same talking points that push Russia to keep the war going indefinitely.  Zelensky and his national security team want the EU to take over funding proxy war with the Kremlin, now that Trump has bailed out supporting Ukraine.  Instead of working with Trump to end the conflict, Zelensky’s inner circle refuses to admit defeat.  As long as they can keep fighting the Kremlin, they can pretend they’re winning the war.

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.