Accused of stealing Ukrainian grain, 73-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shot back at the media, reminding them that the Russian Federation is de-Nazifying Ukraine in their special military operation. Russia, during WW II, has their hands full defending against Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, killing some 27 million Russian by the time the war ended in 1945. So when Russia deals with Ukraine, they remember well Nazi occupied Ukraine in WW II, readily deporting Jews and other groups to death camps in Poland and Germany. But the issue new during the Ukraine War involves the current Kiev regime that has picked up arms with the United States to fighting the Russian Federation. Supplied unlimited lethal weapons and cash by the U.S., Kiev’s regime led by 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky thinks he can defeat the Russian Federation army.
Russia was accused by Ukrainian officials of stealing grain products and selling them into the open market, something Russia completely denies. Ukrainians have tried to pressure Russia to allow grain shipments to leave Ukrainian pots. Zelensky doesn’t acknowledge that since the war began Feb. 24, Ukraine has lost the entire Black Sea coast to the Russian Federation. So, none of the Ukrainian ports are currently in Ukrainian hands, largely because they’re actively at war with Russia. Zelensky and President Joe Biden have been telling the world that they’re winning the Ukraine war, decimating Russian forces. Yet when you look at the map of Russian-controlled territory, it shows exactly the opposite, that Zelensky has lost up to 20% of Ukraine’s territory to the Russian Federation. Everyday that goes by, Ukraine loses more strategic territory.
Biden hasn’t been honest with the American public about progress in the Ukraine War. Zelensky, as commander-in-chief, has surrendered almost the entire Black Seal costline, leaving Ukraine land-locked and partitioned, leaving Kiev without access to the coast. Accusing Russia of blockading grain shipments, Zelensky hopes to put enough pressure on Russia to open up Ukrainian grain shipments but Lavrov said before anything can happen, Ukraine must remove mines from Ukrainian harbors, something Ukraine won’t do. Lavrov said accusations of Russia stealing Ukrainian grain is something Ukraine would do not Russia. Whether admitted to or not by Kiev, Russia won’t reopen grain shipment until the war stop, but, more importantly, after all U.S. and EU sanctions are removed. Ukraine wants Russia to removed all its troops and return all the land lost in the war.
Ending the Ukraine war should be the top priority for Kiev but Zelensky shows no signs of ending the conflict until Russia leaves Ukraine. Zelensky hasn’t figured outleaving Kiev land-locked. U.S. and EU press wants to pressure Moscow into recovering grain sales to stop worldwide famine, especially in Africa from the war. But if Zelensky really wanted to get grain shipments out to stave off possible famine, he’s move the conflict to Istanbul to find a way for a ceasefire. Russia is perfectly content to outlast Ukraine, with or without all the U.S. and NATO weapons. When Lavrov talks about neo-Nazis in Ukraine, he’s referring to the Kiev regime that partnered up with the U.S. to degrade the Russian military. Changing the focus of the war to degrade the Russian military, Biden and Zelensky made a serious mistake to extend the war seeking regime change.
If the international community wants to restore grain shipments out of Ukraine, they need to push the U.S. and Ukraine to the Istanbul peace table. U.S and the Western press are hung up over semantics about Putin and Lavrov referring to Kiev as Nazis. Russia sees all its foreign enemies as Nazis, a term that used generically by Russias referring to their adversaries. Whatever differences with Ukraine, the Russian Federation wants the U.S. and NATO to stop destabilizing the region by supplying unlimited arms-and-cash to Ukraine. If the U.S. and Kiev want to resume normal life in Ukraine, including grain shipments or other forms of commerce, the conflict must move to the peace table not the battlefield. Ukraine has only lost ground since battling the Russian Federation. No amount of arms given to Ukraine will change the outcomes of the war.
French President Emmanuel Macron, 44, understands that Russia must be incorporated back into the family of nations once the war concludes. Zelensky and his 40-year-old foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba want to continue the fight, despite knowing that they’re losing ground daily. Blaming Putin or Lavrov for delaying grain shipments ignores the reality of war where the U.S. and Kiev seek to degrade the Russian military to the point it can no longer wage war again. Once Biden and Kiev committed to defeating the Russian military, the Kremlin has fought ferociously to capture as much Ukrainian territory as possible. When the war ends, Ukraine will have a limited bargaining position, trying to justify all the losses with a peace plan that gets Kiev life back to normal. Kiev’s new normal will be living with Russian troop controlling Ukraine’s seaports for the foreseeable future.
