LOS ANGELES (OC).–After Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with 72-year-old President Vladimir Putin today, President Donald Trump announced he would meet with Putin in the near future, perhaps arranging a three-way meeting with himself, Putin and Zelensky. Witkoff met with Putin at the Kremlin today to avert Trump raising tariffs on Russia or its trading partners for the purpose of securing a pause in the air war that decimated Ukraine over the last three years. Trump wanted Witkoff to convey his sincere friendship during the difficult time to find a way to pause at least the air war in Ukraine. Putin had gone full-steam ahead, realizing that 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed no signs of compromise. Meeting with Witkoff gives Putin more time to accept the fact that Trump is serious about at least stopping the air war with Ukraine.
Trump talked to the EU telling them that he planned to meet with Putin in the next week or so to resolve any remaining loose ends regarding the Ukraine War. Trump has asked Putin with his envoy Witkoff to pause the air war as a gesture to start some kind of peace talks to end the over three-year-war. Zelensky has been asking the EU for more arms-and-cash but realizes that Brussels is not prepared to fund proxy war with the Kremlin. Zelensky went to the EU hoping to get more favorable terms in any peace deal, realizing that Trump agreed with Putin, to the victor goes the vanquished, meaning that Zelensky would be forced to forfeit Ukrainian land to end the conflict. Zelensky thought the EU was ready to pick up where Trump left off. But the EU wants Zelensky to resolve the Ukraine War, no matter what happens in any negotiations. Zelensky fears reprisals.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there’s a good prospect that Trump will meet with Putin and Zelensky sometime in the future. “An opportunity will present itself very soon for the president to meet both with Vladimir Puptin and with President Zelensky at some point here, hopefully in the near future,” Rubio said. Without providing details, Trump characterized today’s between Putin and Witkoff as “highly productive.” Past phone calls have also been praised as productive and didn’t get Trump what he wanted. He hopes this time around, Putin understands the importance of pausing the air war, giving both sides the time to formulate a plan to end the war. Putin no longer seems attached to restricting arms shipments to Ukraine from the U.S. and NATO. Witkoff made it clear to Putin that Trump opposed the Biden proxy war policy with the Kremlin.
Trump really hopes that Putin takes him up on the pause in the air war, avoiding the tariffs and sanctions applied to Russia, India, China and other countries purchasing Russian oil. Trump wants to end the war for the good of both Russia and Ukraine, not any great benefit to the U.S. Russia and Ukraine have lost tens-of-thousands of soldiers over the three-year-conflict, now stalemated along a 600-mile battlefield where Russia continues to pick off towns, villages and hamlets in Ukraine. Putin has spent a lot of blood-and-treasure battling Ukraine, because Ukraine has had the full backing of the U.S. and European Union, supplying Kiev with unlimited amounts of cash and weapons. When Putin thinks about it, ending the war is in Russia’s best interests to spare the Russian economy the kinds of wartime spending. Trump offers Putin and off-ramp to a bloody, costly conflict.
Democrats and the fake news have done nothing other than throw roadblocks into the peace process. Trump has fought Democrats and the press from the beginning, wanting to keep the war going indefinitely. What possible advantage to U.S. foreign policy and national security do Democrats and the fake news think an unending war with Russia creates? Whatever the costs to the U.S. Treasury, the price is far higher in failed foreign policy and national security. Trump was right to restore normal diplomatic relations with Russia, despite opposed by war hawks in Congress. Trump realized for a coherent U.S. foreign policy and national security, U.S.-Russia only advances a U.S. agenda. Rubio and the State Department need the U.S. and Russia cooperating on a host of national and global issues. Under Biden, U.S-Russian relations collapsed into complete chaos.
Witkoff’s meeting with Putin today indicates that there’s a growing chance that Trump can get a pause in the air war plaguing Ukraine. Trump doesn’t have to ask Putin for a ceasefire on the 600-mile battlefront, only on indiscriminate drone and missile strikes, largely hitting infrastructure and civilians areas. Trump wants the pause in fighting to confront Zelensky to come up with a realistic plan to end the conflict, even if it means surrendering sovereign territory to Russia to get peace. Zelensky could have avoided over three years of destruction and lost territory had he negotiated with Putin from the beginning. He opted for war with the Kremlin and lost his gamble. Trump urged Zelensky Feb. 28 in the Oval Office to cut his losses and trade land-for-peace. Now the same will be asked of Zelensky to end the most deadly conflict in Europe since WW II.
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.
