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The latest peace talks between Ukraine and Russia saw Zelensky wearing a suit, surrounded by European leaders, all come to Washington to sit at court with President Trump.
It is to Trump’s credit that he gathered all these leaders together, despite differences, to at least talk about how they want peace. Ukraine has been used for years as a bargaining chip between East and West, and although there is much to criticize President Zelensky for, he is no longer the comedic star of a hit Ukrainian TV show about a “man of the people” who becomes president. He actually is that president, and despite his high-heel-wearing and dancing past, such a role during a war of this magnitude would change any man. He is most certainly not the same person he was all those years ago that must seem like another lifetime.
It’s amazing how times can change. Even Trump’s archrival, Hillary Clinton has said that if Trump secured an end to the war in Ukraine without Kyiv ceding territory to Russia, she would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize herself.
Well, of course, that’s never going to happen, so it’s probably just to taunt Trump, since she knows she’s safe.
This after Putin and Trump’s highly anticipated meeting in Anchorage ended after around three hours with little clarity. Both leaders suggested progress had been made on talks about the future of the war in Ukraine but neither disclosed details during their joint appearance in front of the world’s press where neither took questions from journalists.
And then, at the same time as this White House Summit was taking place, with everyone praising Trump’s great efforts to bring peace, an exclusive with Reuters reported that “Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country.”
I don’t pretend to be an expert on this region of the world or on this war, however, I have written a few essays and articles on it, and as with every war, for it to end, someone has to win, and someone has to lose.
When one side wins it means the other has to give something up and borders are often redrawn. I don’t really know how this war can end unless Ukraine gives up Donbass. As for Putin insisting that Western troops stay out of Ukraine for its own protection, that is a bridge too far.
Remember that after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine inherited the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world, which included approximately 1,900 strategic warheads and 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Between 1993 and 1996, it agreed to give up those nuclear weapons in exchange for the very protection it is insisting on now.
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