LOS ANGELES (OC).–Russian President Vladmir Putin agreed to end the war as long as Ukraine ceded territory of Donesk and Luhansk to the Kremlin, something Ukrainian President Volodymer Zelensky has refused to do until recently. Zelensky had resisted Trump’s past peace plans which have been very consistent in requiring the Ukraine trade land-for-peace. Zelensky decided Feb. 24, 2022 to go to war with the Kremlin with the expressed purpose of degrading the Russian military to the point it could no longer wage war. Putin heard Biden say March 26, 2022 that the aim of the Ukraine war was to degrade the Russian military. At the time of the invasion, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said that Putin suffered from a terminal illness and the Russian military was near collapse. Nearly four years later, Putin has captured some 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory, killing thousands, driving millions into exile.
Zelensky was told by Trump in an Oval Office meeting Feb. 28 that he had no cards to play around with Putin. He told Zelensky that only through the United States did he have cards. Zelensky threw a fit in the Oval office bickering with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, refusing to listen to realistic ways to end the war. How ironic that Putin offered Zelensky a way out of the war in March 2022 if he recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian sovereignty over Crimea. Zelensky ran to the European Union to denounce Trump’s peace plan, claiming it all favored Putin. Nearly a year later, Zelensky found out the hard way that the EU had no peace plan for Ukraine and would run out of cash trying to fund the war with Russia. Influencing Zelensky’s thinking now about trading land to end the conflict are fiscal realities in the EU.
EU officials that back Zelensky like French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer don’t want Zelensky to cede sovereign land to Putin. Yet if there’s no quid pro quo, or something-for-something, there’s no end to the four year, bloody, costly war. EU officials don’t know how to end the conflict, only make demands that won’t result in a peace deal. Trump has a plan worked out carefully with Russian President Vladimir Putin that offers Putin Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea, all of which were on the table at the start of the war. EU officials have realized recently that they can’t afford to keep handing Zelensky billions of euros for the war. Macron, Merz and Starmer want the EU to confiscate billions in frozen Russian assets, something Belgium officials running the central bank refuse to do.
Putin has been very clear what it will take to end the war. Only Zelensky and the EU keep moving the goal posts, changing their minds on what they’re willing to do to end the war. “If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations,” Putin said.”If they don’t then we will achieve it my military means,” showing that he means business. Zelensky, EU officials and the press don’t want to negotiate an end to the war with Putin. They would like to continue the war but know that the EU has run out of funds. There’s no consensus in the EU to confiscate frozen Russian assets to fund the war. So, when it comes to Zelensky showing some willingness to go along with Trump’s peace plan, there’s a reason behind it. Truth be told, Zelensky doesn’t want to cede any territory to Putin but knows that there no way out of the war.
Trump and his peace envoy Steve Witkoff have told Putin that they accept a peace plan that has Zelensky cede Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea to the Russian Federation. Zelensky and the EU would like to defeat the Kremlin but that’s pure fantasy, just not happening. So, all the months of resistance by Zelensky and the EU escalating attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure has not stopped Putin form moving forward seizing more Ukrainian sovereign territory. Zelensky complains about Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and civilian dwellings but has been reluctant to come to the peace table. Giving up Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea is the exact same state Ukraine was in before the Feb. 224, 2022 war started. Trump asked Zelensky on many occasions to trade land-for-peace, end the war and start the lengthy and costly process of rebuilding his country.
Putin has agreed in principle to Trump’s plan to end the nearly four-year-old conflict than has wreaked death and destruction on Ukraine. Four years of war have gotten Kiev nothing but more death and destruction. Putin has been consistent offering to end the conflict if Zelensky pulls his forces out of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. Zelenky’s top aid Andriy Yermak keeps saying that Ukraine will not cede territory to Putin. “As long as Zelenksy is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory,” Yermak said, not up-to-speed on new developments in the EU. EU officials are done financing a perpetual war where Ukraine continues to lose ground, but, more importantly, the European Central Band [ECB] doesn’t have the cash to fund the war. Zelensky has run out of excuses and options to avoid Trump’s latest peace deaj.
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.
