Ukraine deal: on or off?
Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine:
The United States is pausing all U.S. military aid to Ukraine until President Trump determines the Ukrainians show a commitment to good faith peace negotiations, a senior Trump administration official tells Fox News.
“This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause,” the official emphasized. “The orders are going out right now.”
Meanwhile, Zelensky seems to be ready to deal [my emphasis]:
None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.
We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky — ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure — and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same. Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal.
We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this.
Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.
Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively.
Of course, if Zelensky had said this when he was in DC and signed the papers, the parties would already be working on the next steps.
One of the many problems is that, according to Rubio (whom I believe), Zelensky has been playing a game something like Lucy with the football – promising to sign the deal and then pulling back, many times. The debacle last week was only the most prominent one of these events because it happened with Trump and Vance in attendance and the cameras rolling. I think that was part of Zelensky’s plan – to get more publicity for his dickering – but it backfired in a manner he probably didn’t quite expect when Trump and Vance called him on it.
I am concerned that Zelensky may have so alienated Trump that no such deal is possible anymore. Trump’s unpredictable nature is sometimes a tool he uses to get what he wants, and yet it’s sometimes just a result of his volatility. I have no idea what he’ll do next, but I doubt he’ll give Zelensky any more photo-ops if and when any deal is signed. Certainly, if a photo-op is in order, it would happen afterwards rather than before.
And use interpreters.
Photo-opportunities are trivial things when set beside the grinding evils of trench warfare, no? Easily dispensed with one would think. I believe the genuine object remains ending the war, its death and destruction. And that is what is meant to be served by the mineral deal and its ancillary conditions. So, as before, this business was over before it began.
Sad situation is that none of the parties can be trusted long term.
Trump gone in four years so next dem president can undo the agreement
Putin or Zelinsky become un-happy and start fighting again.
Ironically, Trump is the most trustworthy involved and legitimately wants to stop the death and destruction
I don’t see how Ukraine has a choice. Europe isn’t going to give them what they need to avoid defeat.
Either Zelenskyy signs or someone else does.
I believe Trump still wants the deal, though he might ding Zelenskyy for the FAFO.
@Fullmoon:Sad situation is that none of the parties can be trusted long term.
In a representative democracy, if you want consistent long-term foreign policy, you’d have to let it be up to Sir Humphrey Appleby and all the unelected foreign service people. And we’ve already seen with USAID what they get up to without supervision from the elected leadership.
I guess Russia negotiating in good faith is not on the table. They never have in the past . Hope Z does not fall from a bridge or out of a building.
The history of Russia and its neighbors and anyone who questions the great leader ending up in a gulag just can’t be made up. I could go on.
I don’t give a tinkers damn about Ukraine. It was part of the Soviet Union for many decades, so what if worst case it goes back to Russia?
It’s a totally corrupt country, never allied with us, that demonstrably bought off the Biden crime family and others to our detriment. Not to mention the twin bloated treasonous Army guys who set up Trump for impeachment. Led by the same little crooked punk who aided and abetted that.
The question I have is what minerals deal? This one or the one Z already did with the UK. Is he selling the same product twice?
Given his most recent comments, it would appear that Zelensky does not have great confidence in the EU. The Europeans are great talkers, but when push comes to shove—. The bottom line is that they desperately need Russian oil; and Russia desperately needs to sell them their oil. Who blinks? Putin is tougher, so Europe may not be in a postion to broker anythng. Without Trump/U.S. Zelensky is between a rock and a very hard place.
I was all in for supporting Ukraine, even though I knew that it was probably the most corrupt country north of Africa.
Reality can be ignored at some risk, but cannot be denied. They stopped Russia, for now; but it is inconceivable that they can evict Russia; and it is problematic what Putin might do if he becomes frustrated enough.
Despite being called out for my comparisons to WWI by someone whose name I forget, I see others making the same comparison It is time to try to end the stalemate that has been described as a meat grinder. There are other ways to punish Putin and the Russians for anyone who has the will to do so.
I doubt Trump was truly bothered, and if Zelenskyy waves the white flag, Trump will go forward as if nothing happened. He isn’t that unpredictable, indeed, his response to Zelenskyy was completely predictable.