LOS ANGELES.–Ukraine’s 46-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky says the war will end sooner with 78-year-old President-elect Donald Trump than 81-year-old President Joe Biden. Biden said emphatically that if the U.S. didn’t fund proxy war in Ukraine with Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin would start taking over more European countries. So, Biden and Zelensky sold the war to Congress and Brussels saying that Putin was a danger to invading NATO countries. Putin, of course, denies that he’s after any more European territory, only wants the U.S. to stop funding-and-supplying Ukraine with lethal weapons. “It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House. This is their approach, their promise to their citizens,” Zelensky told Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne. Zelensky has changed his tune since Nov. 5.
What changed for Zelensky now that Trump shellacked 60-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris, someone Zelensky met with during the U.N. General Assembly in late September. Zelensky was promised by Kamala that she would continue to supply all the cash-and-weapons needed to drive the Russian Federation out of Ukraine. Meeting with Trump at the same time, Trump played his cards close to the vest, telling Zelensky what he wanted to hear, listening to his “victory plan,” but not making any commitments. Zelensky said Ukraine “must do everything so that this war ends next year, ends through diplomatic means,” showing a sudden change in heart. Zelensky said, at one point, he wouldn’t meet with Putin until he’s removed from office, often calling the Russian leader a war criminal. Zelensky showed no interest in diplomacy until Nov. 5.
Zelensky knows that the gravy train for corrupt Ukrainian officials is over when Trump takes office. His plan with Biden to have battlefield successes to force Russia into making more concessions for peace backfired. Putin controls about 20-25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory with Russian gaining more territory daily. Zelensky thought if he took Russian territory Aug. 8, he would divert Russian forces from the front, giving Ukraine a chance to reclaim lost territory. When Putin didn’t bite on his military plan, Zelensky was left holding Russian bag, defending new Russian territory and the front lines in Donbas. Trump hasn’t forgot during his last year in office Zelensky selling him out about his attempts to dig up dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump was impeached for trying in influence Zelensky and would like nothing more than to end the reckless Ukraine War.
Democrats and the press continue to press the Russian hoax that Trump has an inappropriate relationship with Vladimir Putin. Only a few days ago, Biden’s 45-year-old former press secretary Jen Psaki, who hosts a show on MSNBC, said Trump has a “secret” relationship, without citing anything inappropriate. Zelensky says there’s increased pressure to end the Ukraine War in 2025, knowing that if he doesn’t go along with Trump’s peace talks with Russia, he’d see his funding cut. Zelensky had his way with the Russian war hawk Biden who thought that the U.S. should back proxy war with Russia, even if it wrecked the U.S. diplomatic relations and arms control with Russia. Zelensky could care less if the U.S. has any relationship with Russia, even if it’s in the U.S. and world’s best interest to continue diplomacy, global cooperation and arms control.
Zelensky went ballistic with 66-year-old German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for having a phone call with Putin. Scholz wanted Putin to know he backs Trump’s move to the peace table and wanted to discuss renewing oil-and-gas sales to Germany. Scholz’s predecessor, 70-year-old former Chancellor Angela Merkel, spent $12 billion building the Nordstream 2 pipeline only to watch it bombed by Ukrainian agents in Dec. 2022, over six months after the Feb. 24, 2022 Russian invasion. Scholz, like Trump, wants to restore normal diplomatic and business relations with Russia but Biden made it difficult to conduct business-as-usual. Trump wants to end the Ukraine War so the U.S. can resume Russian oil sales believing it would help bring down inflation in the U.S. and around the globe. Biden blames the inflation on Trump’s pandemic, the fake winning message in 2020.
Zelensky has changed his tune on peace talks because he knows under Trump the free ride is over, with Trump demanding negotiation and compromise. Zelensky thought he could pressure the U.S. and EU into supporting the war until Putin pulled all his troops out of Ukraine. Trump understands that Biden and Zelensky have failed in their war against the Kremlin. Ukraine faces more death-and-destruction keeping the war going when peace talks are a real option. Zelensky will go kicking-and-screaming when he realizes that Ukraine will have compromise more sovereign territory to end the war. Zelensky hoped to return Ukraine’s lost territory through war but found out it doesn’t work. Trump gives Zelensky a face-saving way out of the war, knowing that continuing the war is not an option. Zelensky must negotiate and compromise or lose U.S. support.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
