Zelensky talks of peace, Russians make headway

This was something that was waiting to happen. With the United States President Donald Trump pausing aid and sharing of intelligence with Ukraine, its President Volodymyr Zelensky has been forced to talk more ardently about peace than ever before.

Russian forces were pushing back the Ukrainian army which has occupied the western Russian territory of Kursk since last August in an attempt to gain a bargaining chip at negotiations. Zelensky said, “We will do a lot of work here in Europe, with the US, and in Saudi Arabia (a meeting is scheduled between American and Ukrainian officials) – we are preparing a meeting to accelerate peace and strengthen the foundations of security.”

This is a very different Ukrainian president who had pushed back Trump and his Vice President, J.D.Vance, at the Oval Office. “Today (Friday), intense work with President Trump’s team has been going on at various levels – numerous calls. The topic is clear – peace as soon as possible, security as reliably as possible. Ukraine is fully committed to a constructive approach.” Meanwhile, President Trump speaking to reporters at the White House said that he felt it was easier to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin than with President Zelensky.

There was little doubt that without American military and financial support, Ukraine would not be able to withstand the Russian onslaught. The European support is inadequate. But it has to be admitted that it was the Ukrainians who fought the war the last three years, and it is they who resisted the Russian military might. There were no American soldiers in Ukraine as there were in Vietnam and in Afghanistan.

The Ukrainians have put up a brave fight and it is not to be downplayed. The question is whether forced to seek peace – and this is a war that Ukrainians did not start but it was Russia that invaded on February 24, 2022 – they can hope to get a fair deal.

Will the Americans under the Trump leadership exert enough pressure on Russia and Putin to recognise the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine? President Zelensky may not get his maximum claim of retrieving the Crimean Peninsula that Putin had occupied in 2014. It is also unlikely whether Putin would surrender the eastern Ukrainian Russian-speaking republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

As many of the territorial claims in Eastern Europe, the Donbas region which includes these two republics has been in conflict with Russia. Putin used the existing opposition to incorporate them into Russia a little before he ordered invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Zelensky and Ukraine now have to choose between the stand taken by Trump, who is insisting on peace between Ukraine and Russia, and Europe which has expressed support to Ukraine and is opposed to Russia’s act of aggression in Ukraine.

If Zelensky chooses the Americans over Europeans, he may forego the option of Ukraine becoming part of the European Union (EU), and it will become isolated in the continent. He would make Ukraine fully dependent on the US, a European outpost of the US as it were the way Israel is in the Middle East. It is not an easy decision. Russia has wrought much destruction of Ukraine and it needs a very strong reconstruction programme. Trump would be interested only in getting access to the critical minerals in Ukraine, and he would not commit himself to the economic reconstruction of the country. He may be able to prevail upon Putin not to attack Ukraine, but that may not be a long-lasting commitment.

Once Trump’s second term in office ends, Americans may change their stance, and so will Putin. It is of course a mess. But Trump can wash his hands off to say that he did not create the mess.