LOS ANGELES (OC).–Warning about relations with the European Union putting troops in Ukraine, 75-uear-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also served notice that seizing Russian assets in European banks would trigger the same response. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky has pushed the EU to give the Kiev government billions from over 215 billion kept in Belgium and France. Speaking to the Federation Council in the Upper House of parliament, Lavrov said that Russia does not want war with Brussels but if pushed to breaking point that’s exactly what would happen. Russia has battled Ukraine over the last four years with the EU now funding the proxy war with the Kremlin. EU officials have grave concerns about confiscating Russian assets or putting troops in Ukraine, despite pleas from Zelensky. Zelensky isn’t concerned about war on the European Continent.
Lavrov speaks for Russian President Vladimir Putin who has put his cards on the table for making peace in Ukraine. Putin wants his spoils of the nearly four-year war that’s seen thousands of Russian troops massacred on a World War I-style battlefield with both sides dug in, making very little progress but Russia clearly has the upper-hand. President Donald Trump wants to end the war to stop the destruction-and-carnage to both sides, finding most the resistance to his peace plan coming from Zelensky. Zelensky refuses to cede Eastern Donbas to Ukraine, despite controlling 90% of the region including Donetsk and Luhansk, both Russian speaking provinces. Putin offered to end the war in March 2022 only weeks after the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion, if Zelensky agreed to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk plus Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
Praising President Donald Trump for trying to find compromise, Lavron said Trump is the only Western leader looking to end the conflict. Trump has been accused by Zelensky and the EU of pushing a Russia agenda, the same kind of smear used by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to win the 2016 presidential election. Trump doesn’t favor Russia, he favors finding a peace formula that works to end the nearly four-year conflict. With all the energy put by Trump on peacemaking, Zelensky has put more on keeping the conflict. As long as he battles the Kremlin, he gets billion in euros for his bankrupt Kiev government and war. Without EU funding, Zelensky would be forced to settle the conflict but continues to take as much cash as he can get. Trump figured Zelensky out calling him Europe’s P.T. Barnum, an American promoter who could “sell ice to the Eskimos.”
Trump said Monday that he was waiting for a Ukrainian response to his peace plan. Most people already know that Zelensky rejects any plan that gives any Ukrainian territory to Putin. “The leaders of France, we spoke to and Germany and the U.K. we discussed Ukraine in in pretty strong words, and we’ll see what happens. And we’re waiting to hear answers before we progress. You know, we’re not spending any money in Ukraine,” Trump said serving notice to Zelensky and the EU that he doesn’t back anything but peacemaking. Zelensky rejects Trump’s peace plans because it threatens his cash cow currently from the EU. But the EU has told Zelensky that they can’t afford to fund his war with the Kremlin much longer. Zelensky was told there’s strong opposition in the EU for seizing Russia’s frozen assets, currently under deposit in Belgium and France.
Zelensky wants Trump to offer NATO-like Article 5 security in any settlement, since Trump opposes Ukraine joining NATO. Trump knows that NATO membership is a deal-breaker for Putin, just like refusing to cede Donbas and Luhansk. Putin hasn’t spent the last four years at war with Ukraine to give back all the land he’s won in combat. Zelensky thinks he can battle the Kremlin without consequences, including giving up sovereign land. When it comes to getting back his sovereign land, there isn’t enough cash-and-arms to make it happen for the foreseeable future. Lavrov accused the EU of obstructing peace efforts, know the basic demands Putin has specified for ending the war. Trump said the EU wants the U.S. to attend a meeting over the weekend overseas, something Trump hasn’t yet committed to. He sees the EU the throwing a monkey wrench into his peace plans.
Zelenky seems to have a prodigious ability to deny reality, pretend that he’s calling the shots. “Together with our team, I held a productive discussion with the American side . . . In fact, this could be considered the first meeting of the group that will work on a document concerning the reconstruction and economic recovery of Ukraine,” Zelensky said, ignoring the reality that he must cede land to Russia to end the conflict. Trump is reluctant to give Zelensky any security guarantees because the U.S. is currently restoring U.S.-Russian relations. If there’s a future mishap, what’s Trump supposed to do drop everything to defend Ukraine? Zelensky knows he’s not on Trump’s good side refusing to cooperate on his peace plan. What is he thinking that he had a productive meeting with the State Department? Zelensky has only given Trump grief over peacemaking.
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.
