Ukrainian President Zelensky appears to think he has a lot more leverage than he actually has in these meetings.
Without the United States, his country is more or less dead in the water, but nobody wants to see that happen.
That is likely why he puffed his chest out to outline his peace requirements before his big meetings in DC.
Peace Demands
The war between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for three and a half years, and it was a war that most people did not expect to last three and a half days.
Ukraine has done a rather remarkable job defending its country, but Russia has occupied some of its land, which Putin appears to want as part of a deal.
Zelensky also had some demands, stating, “The positions are clear. A real peace must be achieved, one that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions.”
He further stated, “Killings must stop as soon as possible, the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the sky, as well as against our port infrastructure. All Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians must be released, and the children abducted by Russia must be returned.”
Key Takeaways
Zelensky’s demands, quite frankly, are not at all unreasonable, and if he is willing to cede occupied land to Russia, this could get done very quickly.
One key to the meeting was Trump being ready to give Article 5 protection to Ukraine, stating, “We’re going to be discussing it today, but we will give them very good protection, very good security.”
This is something that Zelensky can take back to his people to justify any land that is lost, and that will likely be his plan of action to get a peace deal in place.
It’s not NATO membership, but he will have the full protection of NATO countries.
Lock It Down
One statement by Trump that I took as a very positive sign was that Trump was immediately pushing for a trilateral meeting to get Zelensky and Putin in the same room together.
Trump said it was “a matter of when, not if” for the meeting to take place, which tells me that the demands from both sides can be met if they all sit down at the same table.
The one thing that could throw a wrench into this, however, is if Zelensky gets upset about yet another Russian strike that took place during the meetings, killing seven people.
With a peace deal on the horizon, this was just a baffling move by Putin to poke Zelensky as he tried to work out the details of the deal with Trump. I am hoping it does not get Zelensky to walk away, but I can guarantee you, Trump was furious when those reports broke.
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Author: Jerry McConway
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