LOS ANGELES (OC).–Getting down to brass tacks, it looks like President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet soon to sign a pause to the air war in Ukraine, where both sides can begin negotiating for a permanent settlement. Both sides, so far, have staked out unrealistic positions with Putin demanding that Ukraine disarm, stop receiving arms from the U.S., EU and NATO. When Trump’s personal envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin Aug. 6 he let Putin know that Trump had his back. He wanted the pause in the air war to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into real peace talks, dealing with the fact he’ll have to trade land-for-peace. Whether Zelensky agrees or not, there’s no mood in Brussels to keep funding the Ukraine War with Zelensky’s hopes that one day he can evict Russian forces from Ukrainian soil.
Over more than three years of war, Zelensky has watched his military, infrastructure and country shrink in size to Russia occupying more sovereign territory. So, instead of repelling Russian forces with U.S., EU and NATO weapons, Zelensky has lost more land, prompting Trump Feb. 28 to tell Zelensky to cut his losses and end the war. Zelensky threw a fit in the Oval Office, rejecting Trump’s suggest that he should cut his losses, trading land for peace. Well Trump is close to getting a deal with Putin to stop the air war in exchange for real progress at the peace table. Putin was reluctant to change anything on the battlefront, knowing that Zelensky rejected all of his peace proposals presented in Istanbul. White House officials deny that a deal is in the works, not wanting to let the media litigate the peace process, instead keeping deal-making under wraps.
If there’s any truth to media leaks, Putin would agree to halt all forward progress along the 600-mile battle front and suspend the air war pending new talks to end the conflict. When Witkoff met with Putin, there was something different this time around. It wasn’t that Trump threatening sanctions on Russia and its trading partners it was more that Putin understood that Trump had bigger plans for Russia. Trump has done everything possible to restore normal diplomatic relations since taking office. When it came to the Ukraine War, Putin didn’t understand that Trump wanted to deliver on his campaign promise to end the war. Putin recognized that Trump’s motives were to save lives but, more importantly, to end the crippling sanctions against Russia since the Feb. 24, 2022 start of the Ukraine War. It was that sincerity that Putin finally understood what was at stake.
Witkoff discussed with Putin freezing the battle lines where Russia in any settlement would take over Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. Putin seized Crimea March 1, 2014 after a pro-Western coup toppled the Kremlin-backed Kiev government of Viktor Yanukovych. Putin hosted the Sochi Winter Olympics when the Feb. 22, 2014 coup took place, tying his hand until after the Olympics. Once the games were done, Putin seized Crimea to protect his naval base in Sebastopol. Zelensky had a choice Feb. 24, 2022 when Putin moved his troop into Ukraine. He could have negotiated with Putin to end the conflict with Putin retaining Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. After over three years of war, Zelensky lost Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, something completely unnecessary. Now Zelensky will be forced to admit how much territory he lost.
Zelensky thought that if he pitted the European Union against Trump that would help him get a better peace deal with Putin. Zelensky hoped he could end the war and receive all his sovereign land back. Trump told him Feb. 28 in the Oval Office that continuing the war was destroying Ukraine, endangering the European Continent. Zelensky stomped out of the office, failing to sign a rare earth mineral deal. “There are certain signals, and we also have an intuion, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict—I don’t want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict—is closer that it is further away,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Tusk had been talking much tougher before about any settlement, joining French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in demanding that Putin return Ukraine’s sovereign land.
Whatever happened between Witkoff and Putin, it’s clear there’s finally movement toward a pause in the air war, plus possible freezing the 600-mile Ukrainian battlefield. Zelensky hasn’t raised any strong objections yet to the prospects to giving up Kherson, Zaporizhzia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. Zelensky told Tusk he was “very cautious but optimistic” about current developments. But if Zelensky still thinks that he’s going to get all his sovereign land back, he’s in for a rude awakening. Trump’s negotiations with Putin is about ending the conflict, freezing the battlefront to the current lines, leaving Putin in control of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. If you listen to Tusk, it sounds like he’s accepting that to end the conflict, Zelensky will be forced to trade land-for-peace. Trump told Zelensky that months ago.
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.
