LOS ANGELES (OC).– Ukraine’s 48-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky has run out of options on Ukraine peace talks with President Donald Trump taking over in Abu Dhabi. Zelensky has resisted for months compromising on territory in eastern Donbas to end the Ukraine War. Russian President Vladimir Putin who started the war Feb. 24, 2022 has made steady progress in four-years of war, seizing about 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory along the Black Sea. Zelensky thought he could avoid Trump’s peace plan by playing to the European Union’s fears that Putin has his eyes on more European territory. Zelensky told the European Union that the Ukraine War, at great sacrifice to Ukraine, defends European democracy, something so preposterous it’s hard to believe anyone listens. Zelensky can’t defend his own territory battling the Kremlin, let a alone defend the EU.
Attending trilateral talks with the U.S., Ukraine and Russia, Zelensky realized that the time for peace has been long overdue. He’s taken a beating for four years with all the billions in cash and unlimited arms given to Kiev for the last four years. No matter what the weapons given by the West, he didn’t help Zelensky oust the Russian Federation from Ukraine. Russia occupied parts of Ukraine before the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion and no doubt will occupy Ukraine after the war ends. Zelensky hoped all the U.S. and EU arms would drive Putin out of Ukraine. But the more Zelensky fought back, the more Putin would push back, including missile and drone strikes done while peace talks went on in Abu Dhabi. But Putin let Zelensky know for months that he was open to ending the war, just not on his terms. Putin has been clear about what he needs to end the war.
Zelensky complains every time there’s a missile or drone strike or Kiev or any other part of the country. Yet he’s had many opportunities to seek peace with Trump working hard to bring the war to an end. Zelensky has refused up till now let Trump handle the negotiations, insisting that Trump favors Moscow in any settlement. Trump doesn’t favor either side only wants both warring factions to negotiate and compromise to end the war. Zelensky has been asked by Putin to withdraw his troops from eastern Donbas where Putin has had troops since before the war. Zelensky has nothing to lose and all to gain withdrawing his forces from Donetsk and Luhansk. Both Russian provinces want no part of Zelensky’s Kiev government, only want to be managed by the Russian Federation. Zelensky needs to follow Trump’s lead and find a formula to end the Ukraine War.
Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met directly with Putin at the Kremlin before shuttling to Abu Dhabi for trilateral talks. So when it comes to Witkoff and Kushner knowing what it’s going to take of Zelensky to end the war, it’s really quite simple: He must surrender eastern Donbas, remove his troops and let the Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk affiliate with Moscow. Zelensky has nothing to lose other than his pride since Putin has controlled the area since the Feb. 22, 2014 Maiden Revolution when pro-Western forces ousted former Kremlin-backed Ukraine leader Viktor Yanukovych. Zelensky and his friends at the EU have played games with peace over the last several months, continuing to inflict maximum damage on his country. Putin would have settled the war back in March 2022, if Zelensky negotiated with him.
Zelensky’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov and chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov negotiated on behalf of Zelensky. Budanov, while Zelensky’s director of military intelligence, one said when the war started that Putin suffered from a terminal illness and the Russian arumy was near collapse. Budanov’s unending propaganda was apparently rewarded with Zelensky recently making him chief of staff. How much he can be trusted for anything credible is anyone’s guess. Peace should be a no-brainer for Zelensky with the Ukrainian leader letting Trump do the heavy lifting. Withdrawing Ukraine’s forces from eastern Donbas gives up nothing for Zelensky because he doesn’t control the area. Putin asks for very little when you consider he controls some 25% of Ukraine;s sovereign territory. Any peace deal would require Russian troops to also withdraw from certain areas.
Trump has paved the way for Zelensky to save his country from imminent destruction. Every day that goes by without a peace deal, Zelensky loses more soldiers and more sovereign land. Putin wants the war to end to be welcomed back to the G7, creating more business opportunity for Russia. Trump said the war must stop because its killing a generation of young people from Russia and Ukraine, something completely unnecessary when Trump’s peace plan promises to end the war. Zelensky thought he could get the EU to back his ongoing war with the Kremlin when Trump told him no more cash from the U.S. Zelensky knows there’s no escape from the reality of making concessions to end the war. He let untold numbers of young Ukrainians die when there was a simple way out. With the whole world watching, Zelensky must make the concessions now to end the war.
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.Z
