LOS ANGELES (OC).–Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the European Union of sabotaging President Donald Trump’s peace plan to end the Ukraine War. “They don’t have a peace agenda, they’re on the side of war,” Putin said, speaking to an investment group before meeting with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and other U.S. officials. Trump has been working feverishly on a peace deal for months, actually taking his frustrations out on Putin, when, in fact, Ukraine’s 47-year-old President and the EU have been the obstacles to peace. Trump wanted Putin after an Aug. 15 Anchorage, Alaska summit to agree to a 30-day ceasefire to expedite a final peace settlement. Putin eventually convinced Trump to work on a permanent peace settlement rather than on a ceasefire deal. But Zelensky and the EU have staked out demands making any permanent settlement next to impossible.
Trump and Putin have spoken several times about ending the war with Witkoff actually meeting with Putin in person five times in the last year to work out an acceptable peace settlement. Zelensky and the EU had taken the hard core position that they would not cede any land to Putin in any settlement. Putin controls some 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign land after nearly four years of war. Yet Zelensky and the EU think they can dictate the terms of any settlement, something not practical or realistic. Putin wants to end the conflict, just not on Zelenssky and the EU’s terms. Trump has the right formula that works for Russia, ceding Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region to Russia. How ironic that Putin offered Zelensky weeks after the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion the same deal. Zelensky opted for war causing so much death-and-destruction in Ukraine.
Putin said the EU was trying to modify Trump’s peace agreement with “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia,” creating obstacles to peace, “blocking the entire peace process,” Putin said. But instead of worrying about Europe, Putin should work with his U.S. partners to fashion a workable peace deal, putting pressure on Zelensky to go along with it. Zelensky didn’t want to cede land to Putin, something the EU also demanded. But the EU had no peace plan at all, only agreeing with Zelensky, even though it would not end the war. New developments in the EU make funding the war impossible since member states, especially Belgium, refuse to confiscate frozen Russian assets to fund the war. Zelensky thought the EU had the cash to fund the war indefinitely. So, Zelensky doesn’t have the blank check he needs to fund the war with Russia.
Zelensky and the EU have refuse so far to cede land to Putin, something inevitable if there’s going to be a peace settlement. EU officials, led by French President Emmanuel Macron, have insisted that Russia get no territory in any settlement. Macron pretends that the EU has the cash reserves to fund the Ukraine War indefinitely. But Brussels has said that it doesn’t have enough cash to fund the war without using confiscated Russian assets, something Belgium refuses to do. Belgium Prime Minister Bart de Wever vehemently opposes using frozen Russia assets, fearing a loss of credibility and liability. So, Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz would like to continue the war but the EU doesn’t have the cash without confiscating it from Russia, something that’s not going to happen. Zelensky hoped he could count on the EU like he once did on the U.S.
Zelensky expressed opposition to a settlement in the past unless the U.S. and EU guarantee post war security. Putin has informed the EU that there can be no settlement with EU troops placed in Ukraine. So, when it comes to security, Zelensky has asked for NATO-like Article 5 protections, meaning if Putin invades again, he must be protected by the EU or the U.S. Trump has been reluctant to give Zelensky future guarantees because he plans to continue developing normal diplomatic relations with Russia. Judging by Putin meeting with Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, there’s plenty of rapport with the U.S. Democrats and the U.S. press, like the EU, want to sabotage any peace efforts, knowing that it stands to help Trump politically. Trump wants peace with Ukraine and Russia to stop the destruction-and-carnage.
Zelensky has come to a fork in the road when it comes to settling the conflict. He knows that only Trump can pull off a peace deal because he knows what works with Putin. Informed that there’s no enough cash in the EU to keep the war going indefinitely, Zelensky knows that he must find an acceptable settlement now that his funding is no longer guaranteed. Trump offers the only real path out of the war that’s caused so much carnage-and-destruction in Ukraine. Zelensky has gone to the peace table kicking-and-screening, knowing that that he would eventually have to admit to the Ukraine people how much land he’s lost in nearly four years of war. Putin is right when he says the EU wants to sabotage Trump’s peace plans. They’ve been doing it since Trump met with Zelensky Feb. 28 in the Oval Office. Zelensky has no options left other that settling the conflict.
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.
