President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation | July 16, 2018 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
Stop the Dying
Isn’t it rather surprising that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky isn’t “extremely grateful” to President Trump for his extraordinary full-court press to end the war in Ukraine? Also surprising to any casual observer is why America’s European allies don’t appreciate that America now has a president who is reasserting strong American leadership on the international stage to promote peace in the Ukraine/Russia War, the Middle East, and around the world.
Instead of promoting and supporting Trump’s peace efforts, European leaders and Zelensky threw temper tantrums. (Zelensky & Co.) have opposed everything Trump has tried to do, asserted that Trump is siding with Putin against Ukraine, and claimed they are being excluded from U.S. peace efforts.
In American Greatness, Fred Fleitz discusses Donald Trump’s aggressive diplomatic effort to end the war in Ukraine. Over the last couple of weeks, Trump has enlisted his National Security Adviser, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Treasury, Russia/Ukraine special envoy, Middle East special envoy, and other officials to engage with Ukrainian, European, and Russian officials on how to end the war.
Trump spoke on the phone with Putin and Zelensky.
Middle East (special) envoy Steve Witkoff arranged the release of American prisoners from Russia, which hopefully was a sign of good faith by Putin in joining future peace talks.
Secretary of State Rubio, National Security Adviser Waltz, and Witkoff held four hours of meetings in Riyadh with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Russian foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov. This meeting was intended to repair U.S.-Russian relations after years of neglect by the Biden administration and start a conversation with Russian officials on how to reach a cease-fire and a peace agreement in the Ukraine War.
Zelensky and the mainstream press, along with European leaders, have harshly attacked President Trump and his national security team for appeasing Putin. Their complaint is that the U.S.’s talking with Russian officials rewards Russia by ending its isolation. This is a nonsensical argument. Obviously, it is impossible to negotiate an end to the war without dialogue with Russia, argues Mr. Fleitz.
The Real Issue Here
Zelensky and European officials wanted to stick to the fantasy policy of the war they pursued with the Biden administration. This includes no compromises whatsoever to Russia.
Russia must withdraw from all Ukrainian territory. They want Russia to pay reparations to Ukraine and Russian officials to be tried for war crimes.
They want Russia to pay reparations to Ukraine and Russian officials to be tried for war crimes.
Hold That Thought
Donald Trump’s priority is to stop the killing in Ukraine with “an immediate cease-fire.”
(President Trump) believes policies that allow the killing to continue in a war of attrition that Ukraine will eventually lose are immoral.
Donald Trump knows that compromises and incentives, of course, will be necessary to end this war. Incentives would include working to normalize U.S. relations with Russia and even welcoming Russia back to the G8.
Trump’s critics are infuriated by these and other incentives. They accuse the American president of appeasement and selling out Ukraine. Mr. Fleitz writes that this is “false.” Tragically, European and Ukrainian leaders have failed to provide their alternatives on how to bring Russia to the bargaining table.
Ukraine and European leaders have been spreading lies about Donald Trump, accusing Trump’s peace efforts of excluding them from talks. “Not so,” counters Mr. Fleitz.
Trump officials, including President Trump, have met (multiple times) with Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials. There have been many meetings between U.S. officials and their European counterparts on the war, including over a dozen meetings at last week’s Munich Security Conference. President Trump’s Russia/Ukraine Special Envoy, General Keith Kellogg, has held dozens of meetings with European and Ukrainian officials over the last few months.
Citing their false claims that they have been excluded from U.S. peace efforts, European states objected to President Trump’s recent phone call last week with President Putin. European and Ukrainian officials also protested that they were not part of the U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh this week.
An angry French President Marcon convened an “emergency summit” in Paris to discuss Europe’s response to the U.S. peace efforts. Mr. Fleitz observed that this so-called emergency summit ended up being a low-key affair that “looked like an informal lunch meeting.”
Denying a Failed Biden Policy
Why don’t Zelensky and Europe’s leaders want Trump in discussions with Putin without them? “They do not trust President Trump and disagree with his policy of prioritizing an end to the war.”
They prefer to stick to the failed Biden policy of arming Ukraine “for as long as it takes” with no plan to end this conflict.
More Temper Tantrums
Accusing Trump of sadly living in “this disinformation space,” Zelensky had another meltdown this week over US peace efforts.
This was a bizarre and unfortunate insult to Trump, who was already fed up with unfounded European and Ukrainian criticism of his peace efforts.
Trump responded by attacking Zelensky’s leadership and calling him a “dictator without elections,” a reference to the fact that elections in Ukraine have been suspended due to martial law imposed due to the war and that Zelensky does not plan to hold an election until the conflict ends.
Trump commenting that Ukraine started the war and could have made a deal to stop it was crude, at best. President Trump was referring to how the Joe Biden administration and Zelensky unnecessarily provoked Putin in the second half of 2021 with constant talk of NATO membership for Ukraine and ignored obvious signs that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was imminent.
Fred Fleitz believes that the U.S. could have convinced Putin not to invade Ukraine as late as mid-2022 “if it had offered to put off the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine for an extended period, perhaps 25 years.”
There is good news, temper tantrums aside. Trump’s peace efforts seem to be on track.
Although the Riyadh talks indicated there is still a lot of work to do to get Russia to agree to a cease-fire and peace agreement, the talks reopened U.S.-Russia diplomacy and produced an outline to start peace talks. After the Riyadh talks, Secretary Rubio also reassured European and Ukrainian leaders that they would be included once peace talks with Russia begin.
President Trump has a historic opportunity here to end the conflict in Ukraine and restore European security, lauds Mr. Fleitz.
But for Trump’s Ukraine peace efforts to succeed, European and Ukrainian leaders must take a new approach to the war. If they continue their resistance to Trump’s peace efforts and nonstop criticism, they will lose this opportunity, the killing in Ukraine will continue, and Ukraine will eventually be defeated.
Recognized or not, the failed Biden policy is over. Zelensky and Europe’s leaders must accept that the Republican Congress may halt military aid to Ukraine if it keeps resisting President Trump’s efforts to end the war.
President Donald Trump was crystal clear in 2023 about his approach to the war in Ukraine. Trump said, “I want everyone to stop dying.”
It is time for European and Ukrainian officials to take this approach and fully support President Trump’s peace efforts to end the Ukraine War.
Fred Fleitz served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member.
If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.
