LOS ANGELES (OC).–Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the lack of progress in Ukraine War peace talks, saying expectations for a quick settlement were unrealistic. Calling expectations “excessive,” Putin obliquely responds to 79-year-old President Donald Trump who wants more swift action on a 30-day ceasefire where a settlement can be completed. Speaking a meeting with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko at an Island in Velaam, Russia, Putin said preliminary peace talks should take place in private with appropriate Russian and Ukrainian negotiators. “In order to reach a peaceful solution, we need thorough talks, no public ones. This should be done quietly, in the silence of the negotiation process,” Putin told the TASS news agency. Putin has been accused by Zelensky, and more recently Trump, of stalling on peace talks.
Trump has been putting pressure on Putin with certain deadlines, shifting from a 50-day deadline to more recently 10-12 days. Kremlin Security Counsel Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has antagonized Trump by raising the nuclear option, reminding Trump that dealing with Russia is different than Israel or Iran. Trump didn’t like Medvedev’s nuclear threats, ordering U.S. nuclear submarine fleet to deploy to certain unspecified areas. When it comes to dealing with Ukraine, Zelensky makes incendiary statements about a settlement can only take place with new leadership in Moscow. “If the Ukrainian leadership believes that now in not the time, that we need to wait, well, were are ready to wait,” Putin said, serving notice that if Zelensky wants to wait, the war can go on. Trump knows that Zelensky is not keen on compromising to end the war.
Zelensky has moved away from Trump’s negotiations through his peace envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff over the last few months has met with Putin four times, trying to understand Putin’s conditions for ending the war. Just when things got down to brass tacks, Zelensky went to French President Emmanuel Macron, German President Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, complaining that Trump was selling him down the river. Zelensky didn’t like that after more than three-years of war, he’s lost some 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory, something he refuses to admit to the Ukrainian people. Zelensky fears that if he settles the conflict with Putin receiving Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea, he’ll be chased out of Kiev. EU officials have taken a tough line on Putin, undermining Trump’s peace plans that were 90% to a deal.
Zelensky sends mixed signals about his willingness to meet any of the conditions set by Putin to end the conflict. Zelensky says he wants to end the conflict, often accusing Putin of buying more time, not serious about a peace settlement. “If these are signals of a genuine willingness to end the war with dignity and establish a truly lasting peace—and not merely an attempt to buy more time for war or delay sanctions—then Ukraine once again reaffirms its readiness to meet at the level of leaders at any time,” Zelensky said. Whether Zelensky’s statement is for PR value to the U.S. and EU, who knows? But only recently Zelensky said that Putin’s “memorandum” or conditions for peace were like blackmail, demanding that Ukraine surrender so much sovereign territory. Zelensky is kidding himself thinking he will not have to trade land-for-peace.
Trump and Witkoff had a peace deal within sights until Zelensky ran to the EU claiming Trump was getting him a bad deal. Trump only recently agreed to let NATO buy more Patriot Missiles for Ukraine but has no interest in continuing former President Joe Biden’s proxy war. While expressing his disappointment over Putin recently, the peace process has been mucked up by the EU that seems to pander to Zelensky’s unrealistic idea that that he can end the war and get all his sovereign land back. Why would Putin surrender his spoils of war coming at great cost, both human and cash, to Russia? Putin is right that private Ukrainian and Russian negotiating teams must work out the details of a peace settlement, before Zelensky and Putin meet for a peace summit to sign a ceasefire and peace deal. Pressuring Putin is not the way to go to get a settlement.
Putin wants to settle the Ukraine conflict but just not on Zelensky’s terms. He wants some reasonable guarantee that Ukraine will not pursue NATO membership, preserving its neutrality in any peace deal. How Putin expects to control Ukraine’s arms is anyone’s guess. EU officials seem committed to Ukraine’s security, stopping short of original plans to station U.N. peacekeepers in Ukraine to discourage another Russian invasion. Whatever the final terms of any settlement, Zelensky is far better off ceding land to Russia to end the war and start the rebuilding process. Trump told Zelensky long ago and on repeat occasions to cut his losses because they’re only going to get worse. Zelensky acts like he’s on an even foothold to Putin in any peace talks but, in reality, Putin has the leverage. Zelensky has lost so much territory, he really has very few options.
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.
