LOS ANGELES (OC).–President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the European Union’s latest round of economic sanctions against the Russian Federation, something that will no doubt end any attempt at peace. EU officials have taken on Ukrainian security, believing that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens the European Union. “It targets the main drivers of the war economy, energy revenues, finance, high-tech resources, and the military industrial base,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram messaging app. Zelensky moved away from peace talks once he decided to reject President Donald Trump’s peace efforts designed to end the war. Zelensky convinced the EU that there own security was at stake, deciding to apply a new round of sanctions hoping to weaken the Russian military. Zelensky still believes with EU’s cash-and-arms he can beat back the Russian advance.
Zelensky has played around for the last three-and-a-half-years going to war with the Kremlin. After losing some 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory to Putin over the course of the war, Zelensky thinks he can continue to fight the Kremlin and one day evict all Russian troops from Ukraine. How long that takes is anyone’s guess. Judging by the current progress, it will never happen unless the new EU sanctions destroy the Russian economy and military. Putin has vowed that no amount of EU sanctions would change his course of the war. Putin said recently that if Zelensky doesn’t want peace, then the Kremlin will give Ukraine perpetual war. EU officials have taken on Ukraine as its new project, supply Zelensky enough cash-and-arms to keep the war going indefinitely. But Zelensky and no one in the EU talk about peace, only some vague idea of post-war security.
How is the EU supposed to talk about post-war security when they have no plan for ending the war. Trump was within 90% of a realistic peace deal based on at least five direct meetings with Putin. So Trump understands exactly what it will take to bring about peace in Ukraine.. Zelensky and the EU reject Trump’s peace plan because it involves trading land-for-peace, the only condition acceptable to Putin to end the war. Brussels hasn’t the threats to the European Continent of keeping the war going indefinitely. Trump told Zelensky Feb. 28 he needed to cut his losses, end the war and start the costly process of rebuilding Ukraine. Zelensky stormed out of the Oval Office rejecting Trump’s advice to end the conflict. Trump warned Zelensky about starting WW III or nuclear war if he kept fighting the Kremlin. Zelensky ran to the EU to negotiate better terms.
Hitting Putin with new s`anctions won’t hasten the end of the war or bring Putin to the peace table. Trump was pressured by the EU and certain members of the U.S. Senate to hit Putin with more sanctions. Trump resisted because he knows it won’t work, but, more importantly, he wants to continue the process of normalizing U.S.-Russian relations. How does applying new sanctions on the Kremlin help U.S. relations? When it comes to Zelensky, he’s lost so much sovereign territory during three-and-a-half years of war that he cannot get it back with armed conflict. But judging by how Ukraine has done in the war, the prospects of beating the Russian Federation are slim-and-none. Yet Zelensky gets the EU to back continued war with the Kremlin. Trump wanted to end the conflict to prevent a wider escalation, something that could turn into WW III.
Putin has recently sent drones into Poland’s airspace and combat aircraft into Estonian sovereign territory. Putin’s message is clear: He won’t be intimidated by more EU sanctions, serving notice that if the EU wants war with the Kremlin, they’ll get war. Why the EU decided that Putin threatened to seize future European territory is anyone’s guess. Zelensky has been warning the EU that their security was at stake in the Ukraine War. If Putin won the war, it would threaten the European Union. So, instead of working with Trump to end the war by whatever means necessary, the EU decided to fund more proxy war with the Kremlin. Putin considers the EU his mortal enemy, no longer a cooperative partner. Putin once had strong business ties to the EU, supplying the some 25% of the EU’s oil and gas needs. Putin still has business ties the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen thinks the new sanctions will persuade Putin to come to the peace table. Von der Leyen called Putin a “predator” recently, not the kind of rhetoric designed to make peace. EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said the sanctions sought to “strike where Russia gets its money,” some they’ve tried before and failed. Why Brussels thinks they’ll succeed this time around is anyone’s guess. Putin has shown he knows how to circumvent sanctions, including continuing oil sales to China and India, two of Putin’s biggest customers. “This is an important step that will increase pressure on the Russian war machine and produce a tangible effect,” Zelensky said, hoping that this time it works. Trump knows that Putin can circumvent any new sanctions, only making him more determined than ever to keep going.
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.
