LOS ANGELES (OC).–President Donald Trump criticized 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for saying before Trump and Putin meet Aug. 15 in Alaska for a summit that he would not cede territory to Russia in the Donbass regions of Southeastern Ukraine. Zelensky has been grumbling to his backers in the European Union that he’s been excluded from taking place in talks with Trump and Putin. Zelensky knows that the Aug. 15 Alaska summit is Trump’s attempt to get a pause in the air war to allow both sides to start negotiating for a permanent peace deal. With Zelensky slamming Putin at every turn, why would he think he would help the process of getting a temporary ceasefire to allow both sides to talk? Zelensky wants to make it look like Trump is doing something inappropriate with Putin, when, in fact, he’s responding to Zelensky’s plea for a ceasefire.
Zelensky’s friends in the EU, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, should do everything possible between now and Friday to contain Zelensky from making more incendiary remarks. Trump said he disagrees with Zelensky “very severely,” on the idea he won’t trade land-for-peace. “I get along with Zelensky, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done. Very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened,” Trump told reporters at the White House. Trump has made the point that if he were president in 2022 the war would have never happened because he would not keep arming Ukraine. Biden defied Putin and the Kremlin refusing to stop arms shipments to Urkaine. Biden refused to discuss security arrangements with Putin, instead arming Ukraine to the teeth.
Once Putin moved his troops into Ukraine, he gave Zelensky a chance to end the conflict by accepting independence in Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian sovereignty over Crimea. Zelensky refused and opted, with Biden’s cash-and-arms, to go to war with the Kremlin. Biden and Zelensky were convinced in 2022 that the Russian army was near collapses, giving Washington and Kiev false hopes that they’d win the war. Trump said territorial “swapping” would be for the betterment of both countries. “Of course, we will not give Russia any rewards for what it has done. The Ukrainian people deserve peace,” Zelensky said, adding that “all partners” must accept that “Ukrainians will not give their land to an occupier. Well Putin has had troops in Ukraine since before the Feb. 22, 2014 coup that toppled the Kremlin backed Kiev government of Viktor Yanukovych.
Zelensky keeps saying it’s against the Ukrainian Constitution to cede territory to a foreign power. Well, Russia has had troops in Ukraine before the Feb. 22, 2014 coup. So, does that mean that Zelensky and his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, violated the Ukrainian Constitution by allowing Russian troops on Ukrainian land? Zelensky knows he waged war against the Kremlin and got burned, all because, as Trump points out, he and Biden were so reckless. Going to war with the Kremlin was a losing proposition from the get go. Zelensky talks like he speaks for the Ukrainian people. But he’s been telling them for three-and-a-half years that he’s winning the war. Everyone knows that Zelensky in three-and-a-half years of war has lost 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory. Trump wants to spare Ukraine more carnage and destruction.
Trump wants Zelensky to stop disparaging his upcoming meeting with Putin, which is about stopping the air war to spare Ukraine more civilian casualties. “I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval,’ I mean, he’s got approval to go to war and kill everybody, but he need approval to do a land swap—because there’ll be some land swapping going on,” Trump said. Zelensky’s friends in the EU should tell him to stop chirping in public, complaining about not being included in Trump’s summit with Putin. There’s plenty of time after Trump obtains a ceasefire for Zelensky. EU officials should encourage Zelensky to take every opportunity to end the war through diplomacy, not keep fighting for no purpose. Zelensky thinks if he keeps fighting he can avoid telling the public that land he’s lost in the war.
Trump has worked feverishly for months fulfilling a campaign promise to end the Ukraine War. Since meeting with Trump in the Oval Office Feb. 28, Zelensky has denounced Trump to the EU, telling the Munich Security Conference that Trump isn’t concerned with European security. Zelensky gaslights the EU into thinking that Ukraine defends European democracy from a Russian menace. But Zelensky can’t defend himself let along defend anything in Europe. That’s the job of NATO. Certain EU countries, like Poland and the Baltic States, fear the Russia Federation from their history. But all NATO countries know that Putin isn’t about to start a war with NATO. He has a particular problem with Ukraine because its sits right on the Russian border. Putin tried to get Biden to discuss Ukrainian security. When Biden refused, Putin moved his troops into Ukraine.
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.
