LOS ANGELES.–Meeting in Istanbul for a second round of peace talks, 72-year-old President Vladimir Putin put his cards on the table of what it would take to get a ceasefire and long-term peace deal. Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Putin’s memorandum as “tantamount to surrender,” showing no signs that he would work to stop the war anytime soon. Zelensky has the moral backing of the European Union but it’s unclear whether Brussels would take over funding the three-year conflict with the Kremlin. EU leaders like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he backs Zelensky fight with the Kremlin but was reluctant to announce publicly that he’d supply Ukraine with long-rang German-made Taurus missiles. But the EU has not made clear whether it’s willing to take over funding the war since 78-year-old President Donald Trump stopped funding war with Russia.
Yesterday’s peace talks, only lasting an hour, agreed to exchange more disabled prisoners of war including 12,000 war dead kept by the Russian and Ukrainian sides. Russian demands published in Interfax News Agency said Putin asked for international recognition of Crimea, including Ukraine removing its forces from Kherson, Zaporizhizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk, all territory annexed by Putin during the war. Putin also demanded that Ukraine remain neutral, ruling out any future NATO membership, protect the rights of Russian speakers, make Russian an official language and enact a ban on glorification of Nazism. Ukraine was occupied by the Germans in WW II and wreaked havoc on Russian speakers living in Ukraine’s Donbas region and Crimean Peninsula. Zelensky says, because he’s Jewish, Ukraine no longer has any problem with neo-Nazism.
When it comes to denouncing Nazism, Zelensky shouldn’t have no a problem with that demand, though he vehemently denies that any Nazism exists in Ukraine. Putin also demanded in any ceasefire agreement that Ukraine would stop military deployments, including taking military assets from foreign powers, including satellite communications and intelligence. Putin asked Zelensky to end martial law and call for new elections with 100 days. Zelensky countered in his own ceasefire proposal that Ukraine accepts no restrictions on its military and no recognition of Russian sovereignty over Ukrainian territory. Putin actually hasn’t asked for sovereignty over Ukrainian territory, only territorial control. If 78-year-old President Donald Trump were involved with the negotiations, he’d probably ask Russia to cede back Kherson and Zaporizhizhia, retaining control of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Putin offered Zelensky a similar deal in March 2022, only weeks after the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion that did not involve Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. But Zelensky opted for war with the Kremlin, spending the last three years destroying his country and losing sovereign land to the Kremlin. In any serious negotiation, Putin wouldn’t hesitate to negotiate on his current demand for Kherson and Zaporizhizhia. But Zelensky with EU backing rejects ceding any territory to Putin to end the conflict. So, thanks to the EU backing Zelensky, he feels inclined to reject Putin’s proposals, even though they’re not that outrageous. Where it gets dicey is a post-war security arrangement where Zelensky wants European troops as peacekeepers to stop and possible future Russian military adventures. All of Putin’s other demands are certainly in the doable range of negotiation.
Getting Zelensky to end martial law and hold new elections would certainly be doable for Zelensky. If the Ukrainian people view Zelensky has losing the war, then he could have some difficulty getting reelected to another term. Zelensky has been reluctant to end the war, desperately seeking funding from the U.S. and EU, all because he wants more time to get his sovereign land back. Most military experts see Russia continuing to seize Ukrainian territory along the 600-mile battlefront. Trump views the conflict as stalemated with Russia having the upper-hand militarily. Trump believes that a ceasefire and peace deal would end the bloodshed and start the rebuilding of Ukraine battered landscape, returning exiles and cutting Ukraine’s losses. EU officials like French President Emmanuel Macron, Merz and U.K Prime Minister Keir Starmer refuse to make concessions to Putin.
Zelensky boasts about a successful drone operation attacking deep inside Russia’s military bases destroying strategic bombers makes peace all the more difficult. Instead of going to the peace table, the EU has emboldened Zelensky to keep fighting, refusing to compromise on ending the conflict. U.S. foreign press say Putin has set intolerable conditions for peace. But are they really so onerous? What’s the big deal about denouncing Nazism, despite Zelensky denying that it exists. Putin won’t have a problem holding onto to Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea without international recognition. So far under EU influence, Zelensky feels inclined to not trade land-for-peace, the formula recognize by most peacemakers to end the conflict. If the EU were not interfering in the peace process, it’s possible for Trump to get a ceasefire and peace deal that would be acceptable to both sides.
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.
