LOS ANGELES (oc).–President Donald Trump announced today that his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been postponed while the Russian and U.S. delegations can work out the details of a future summit more completely. Putin wants the U.S. to deal with the fundamental questions or core issues related to the Ukraine War. Putin sees that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is not on the same page as Trump when it comes to resolving the conflict. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a phone call also postponing any meetings in the near future. Rubio and Lavrov had a substantive meeting and agreed that both the Russian and U.S. peace delegations would meet to work on details. “You can’t postpone what was not scheduled,” said a Kremlin spokesman about a future meeting between Trump and Putin.
Celebrating Diwali at the White House, Trump said he didn’t want to waste Putin or his time. “I don’t want to have a wasted meeting. I don’t want to have a waste of time,” Trump said. “A lot of things are happening on that front, on the war front, with Ukraine and Russia, and we’ll be notifying you over the next two days as to what we’re doing,” Trump said. Trump plans to meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House Wednesday to discuss the Ukraine War and the Coalition of the Wiling in London, putting together a group of countries willing to help in a post-war Ukraine. Trump knows that there’s no use in talking about a post-war security force when there’s no plans to end the conflict. Zelensky and the EU still think they can find a settlement without surrendering any territory to Putin. Putin wants Trump’s delegation to work on details.
Meeting behind closed doors, Russian and U.S. delegation will continue working on details of any peace negotiation to bring the war to an end. Meeting with Rutte tomorrow, Trump will hear the EU’s position on any peace settlement that, so far, agrees with Zelensky that he should surrender any territory to Russia. As of right now, Putin control about 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory on the Black Sea coast. What does continuing the war accomplish for Zelensky when he loses more soldiers and sovereign land by the day? If you ask Zelensky, he’d tell you all Ukraine needs are Tomahawk Cruise missiles, something Trump refused to give him. Trump told Zelensky Oct. 7 at the White House that he looked to end the war not escalate it by launching attacks in Russia. Zelensky wants to keep fighting if the EU foots the bill.
Zelensky keeps accusing Trump of changing his mind because of his phone call with Putin, deciding to not give him Tomahawk Cruise missiles. Zelensky refuses to accept that if he negotiates and compromises in any peace settlement he’s going to have to trade land-for-peace. Trump hasn’t imposed any settlement on Zelensky, only tried to open his mind to what it will take to get a peace deal. When Rutte meets with Trump tomorrow, he’ll tell Trump that the EU opposes any territorial concessions to Putin. Well, it Zelensky or the EU won’t make concessions, then the war will continue to rage on. Putin wants to end the Ukraine War, just not on Zelensky and the EU’s terms. They expect Putin to pull out all this troops and return all the captured land to Zelensky. After spending billions, losing untold numbers of troops, Putin won’t settle without some concessions.
Trump sent confusing signals, much to Zelensky’s liking, that he could eventually get back all the lost land to the Kremlin. Zelensky interpreted Trump’s words the wrong way. He thought Trump was backing continued war with the Kremlin, when, in fact, he was letting Zelensky know at what cost in blood-and-treasure would it take to get his land back? Trump was trying to get Zelensky more pragmatic about his approach to peacemaking. Trump wanted Zelensky to know it’s OK to cut your losses, end the war and start rebuilding his country. When it comes to getting back sovereign land lost to Putin, he might be able to negotiate a return of some territory in the future. Trump’s overall message to Zelensky is to make a deal with Putin to end the war. Zelensky still bristles at the prospects of surrendering Ukrainian territory to Putin, even though it’s already lost.
U.S and EU officials should listen to Putin’s right hand man, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “Now, Washington is saying that we need to stop immediately and not discuss anything further. We need to stop and let history decide. You see, if we just stop, we will forget about the root cause of this conflict, which the American administration clearly understood when Donald Trump came to power,” Lavrov said. When Lavrov talks about “root cause,” he wants the U.S. and EU to stop encroaching on the Russian Federation. Arming Zelensky to the teeth to fight the Kremlin was precisely why Putin moved 250,000 troops into Ukraine. Putin and Lavrov want peace delegations in the U.S. and EU to deal with what looks like a NATO mission to topple the Russian government. Putin wants to end the war but not on Zelensky’s terms or unilateral withdrawal or surrender.
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.
