LOS ANGELES (OC).–Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today, 40-year-old Vice President J.D. Vance said 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin has made significant concessions toward a negotiated settlement on the Ukraine War. Vance told Kristen Welker that Ukraine can receive security guarantees from the U.N. Security Council on a post-war security arrangement. Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pushing for security guarantees, some objectionable to the Kremlin, like hosting EU or NATO troop inside Ukraine. Zelensky has worked with EU officials on figuring out a post-war security framework that works with the Kremlin, providing Ukraine what it needs to prevent any future Russian aggression. “I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in three and half years of this conflict,” Vance told Welker.
Vance looks at the big picture where moving forward to a lasting peace has been out of reach for all parties, certainly for Trump. Trump pushed for peace hosting a recent Alaska summit with Putin and inviting EU leaders to attend a White House strategy session with Zelensky to move the peace process forward. When Putin invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022, it was after months of trying to work with former President Joe Biden on new security arrangements for Ukraine. Putin and his 75-year-old Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have said told Trump that before Putin gets together with Zelensky, they need all the terms-and-conditions for a permanent settlement. Putin told Trump he doesn’t want to fool around with a ceasefire that has no guarantees of a permanent settlement. So, Putin wants Ukraine and Russia to work together on a final settlement.
Biden ignored requests to discuss new security arrangements for Ukraine, provoking Putin to initiate a “special military operation,” to demilitarize Ukraine from receiving copious U.S. arms. Biden refused to work with Putin over several months, then said Putin’s invasion was “unprovoked and unjustified.” Trump said that Biden could have avoided the war had he communicated with Putin on new security arrangements. So, when the war started, Putin offered to settle the conflict asking Zelensky to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian sovereignty over Crimea. Zelensky rejected Putin’s offer and went to war with the Kermlin. Three-and-a-half years later, Zelensky has lost 25% of Ukraine most prized sovereign territory on the Black Sea coast. Zelensky has watched Ukraine decimated by Russia’s aerial assaults for over three years.
Democrats and the fake news backed Biden’s proxy war with the Kremlin, turning Russia from a cooperative global partner into a mortal enemy. Trump came to office with a promise to reverse Biden’s proxy war policy with the Kremlin, restoring normal diplomatic relations. Trump recognized the loss to U.S. foreign policy and national security creating an enemy of Russia. Biden wanted no part of dealing with Putin, instead threw all his backing to Ukraine with the aim of vanquishing the Russian military. Over three years later, Ukraine continues to get infrastructure decimated, losing more sovereign land by the day. So, when Trump told Zelensky in the Oval Office Feb. 28 to cut his losses, end the war and rebuild Ukaine, Zelensky threw a fit. Zelensky couldn’t accept that Trump wanted normal diplomatic relations with his mortal enemy, no longer trusting Trump.
Vance told Welker today that Russian recognized they’re no going to install a puppet regime in Kiev. “They’ve recognized that they’re not going to be able to install and puppet regime in Kiev. That was, of course, a a major demand at the beginning. And importantly, they’ve acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantees to the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Vance said. When the Maiden revolution too place Feb. 22, 2014, a CIA-backed, pro-Western coup toppled the Kremlin backed Kiev government of Viktor Yanukovych. Vance now points out that Russia can’t reinstate another Kremlin-backed regime because most Ukrainians want independence from Moscow. Vance thinks Putin wants to end economic sanctions and rejoin the mainstream economic community, resuming oild and natural gas sales to the European Union.
President Trump has given Putin a great incentive to end the war, compromise on territory and post-war security conditions with the promise of ending U.S. sanctions and returning the economic mainstream. Putin wants nothing more than th return to global oil sales to the U.S. and European Union. “He’s tried to make it clear that Russia can be re-invited into the world economy if they sto the killing, but they’re going to continue to to be isolated if they don’t stop the killing,” Vance said. Zelensky struggles with the idea of ceding Ukrainian land to the Kremlin, something necessary to a final political settlement. Trump told Zelensky that he’ll have to trade land-for-peace, something that he hasn’t yet accepted. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer should work with Zelensky 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.
