EU INCENSED OVER KIEV STRIKE

 LOS ANGELES (OC).–Finally taking the Ukraine War seriously, the European Union didn’t like when a Russian missile struck 50 meters from its mission in Kiev, blowing out windows and dropping ceilings, fortunately not injuring any diplomatic personnel.  Because the EU sustained damage they take the Russian missile strike personally, thinking that Russian President Vladimir Putin deliberately targeted the EU’s Kiev mission.  But had Putin wanted to strike the EU facility directly, he would have done it, clearly that was not his intent.  EU officials led by Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas expressed his outrage over the Russian attack.  “Everybody understands that, considering how [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is mocking the peace efforts, the only thing that works is pressure,” Kallas said.  Kallas agrees with 47-yar-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia must be hit with harsher sanctions to force Putin into a ceasefire. 

            EU officials led by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer have dismissed Trump’s peace efforts, taking a harsher approach that includes more economic sanctions.  Trump was within 90% of a peace deal before Zelensky ran to the EU and complained that Trump and Putin were working on a bad deal for Ukraine involving swapping land-for-peace.  EU officials haven’t taken Trump’s peace efforts seriously until a missile got within 50 meters of its mission in Kiev.  Suddenly, the EU is outraged that a war is going on that has no end in sight.  All the EU offers in the peace process is to hit the Kremlin with more economic sanctions. How’s that supposed to stop the drones and missiles from striking Ukraine’s infrastructure and residential areas?  EU officials have no realistic peace plan.

            Spending their time figuring out post-war security apparatus, the EU put the cart-before-the horse, having no plan to stop the war other that hitting Putin with more sanctions.  EU wants to put together a coalition of 30 countries willing to backstop Ukraine in the future to present another Russian attack.  Trump wants the EU to carry “the lion’s share” of the burden, now ruling out putting U.S. troops in Ukraine.  Why would Trump go along with the EU plan that has no direct effect on a realistic peace plan, only debating what could happen in the future? No one in the EU can figure out how the security force would work, other that giving Ukraine Article 5 NATO-like protection without joining NATO.  NATO hasn’t invited Ukraine. All the security in the world won’t change how Zelensky approaches Russia in the future. If Zelensky continues to show hostility towrd Putin, no amount of security can stop a future altercation.

            Russia’s military envoy to Brussels Karen Maalayan said the damage to the EU mission in Kiev was extensive, saying they “are serious and constitute a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations,” said Anita Hippler, EU foreign policy spokesperson.  EU knows that its mission in Kiev is in the middle of a war zone and they take serious risks keeping the mission open.  Trump said he was not surprised what happened but blamed it on the oppositional approach the EU has taken in the Ukraine peace process.  Instead of telling Zelensky he had to work with Trump including trading land-for-peace, the EU has taken a more belligerent role, refusing to allow Trump or Putin to dictate terms of any settlement.  Zelensky thinks that after three-and-a-half years of war with the Kremlin, he can get all his land back if he decides to tend the war.

            Hungarian President Viktor Orban has vetoed an EU measure to confiscate over $6 billion euros in frozen Russian assets and give them to Ukraine, some most EU members think is legally defensible. Orban thinks it’s theft by the EU and he won’t support such a practice.  Lithuania’s Defense Minister Doveile Sakaliene said Putin’s attack on Kiev Thursday proves that peace is “naïve,” and that “all that Putin is doing is really stalling, actually cheaply buying time to kill more people  and to imitate sort of killing may stop his own murderous actions,” revealing that attitude in the Baltic States and Poland about Putin.  Well, if Putin is only buying time, why has he already shown flexibility in making territorial concessions in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzia?  Sakaliene mirrors the kind of paranoia in former Soviet satellites worried that Putin would seize their territories.

            Trump said recently maybe he should back out of the peace talks and let Ukraine and Russia deal with them at their own pace.  When it comes to the EU, it’s clear they’re formulating a punitive approach to induce Putin to end the conflict. No one in the EU admits that Zelensky continues to attack deep inside the Russian Federation hitting Russia’s oil infrastructire.  So, as long as Zelensky sees fit to attack Russia, why should Putin agree to a ceasefire?  Ireland’s Defense Minister Simon Harris said more must be done to pressure Putin.  “It’s imperative that those ouf us in the European Union now consider further sanctions, what more measures can be take to increase pressure on Russia to end this brutal and aggressive war on Ukraine and huge impact that that’s having on civilians,” Harris said. Trump wants no part of the new found EU aggression, knowing it won’t work.

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.