Zelensky Weighing Trump Peace Plan Could Be Acceptance It’s ‘Time to Wrap This Conflict Up’
© AFP 2023 / KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI
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Zelensky’s sudden shift toward considering a negotiated peace with Russia proposed by former US President Donald Trump could be belated acceptance that the conflict is unwinnable for Kiev, or it could be a dangerous gambit rooting in courting a White House rival, an expert told Sputnik.
In a recent interview with US media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled a belated interest in a peace proposal pitched earlier this year by former US President Donald Trump. In June, before a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive and a renewed Russian offensive, Zelensky had appeared incredulous at the suggestion of a negotiated settlement.
In May, Trump claimed he “would have that war settled in one day, 24 hours” if he were president, saying he would sit down with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, both of whom “have their weaknesses.”
The following month, as Ukraine was preparing to launch a highly anticipated counter-offensive, Zelensky told a US newspaper he “couldn’t understand” Trump’s statement, noting that in the four years Trump was in the White House, he didn’t secure the return of Crimea - by then part of the Russian Federation following its secession from Ukraine - or the Donbass - then governed by the autonomous People’s Republics that had not yet been recognized by Moscow - to Ukrainian control.
However, the Ukrainian counteroffensive fell flat on its face, failing to secure all but the most meager of territorial gains for Ukraine at an appalling human and materiel cost, and now Russian forces have launched their own operations aimed at pushing Ukrainian forces out of claimed Russian territories.
22 November 2023, 14:22 GMT
Speaking with a US television news outlet on Tuesday, Zelensky said he was “ready” to hear Trump’s proposal.
"Let's speak with him and give him this possibility to show what steps [are] of his peace formula,” Zelensky said.
"He can share it with me,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Yes, we can stop this war if we will give Russia Donbass and Crimea, to my mind that our country will not be ready for that such [a] peace plan. That is not [a] peace plan."
However, earlier this month, Zelensky told another US news outlet that he would only need “24 minutes” to explain to Trump “that he can’t manage this war … he can’t bring peace because of Putin."
The US has already funneled more than $113 billion in aid to Kiev since Russia’s special operation began in February 2022, according to US government statistics, and Biden has called on Congress to approve a massive $61.4 billion aid bill. On Monday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin traveled to Kiev and declared the US would "continue to stand with Ukraine” and “will continue to support Ukraine’s urgent battlefield needs and long-term defense requirements.”
Michael Shannon, a political commentator and Newsmax columnist, told Sputnik on Wednesday that Zelensky’s shift toward Trump was a risky intervention into US domestic politics that could seriously backfire.
“It's beginning to look like Zelensky’s blank check for US financial and military support has been returned for insufficient funds. The attitude on the part of the Biden administration and the left has been changing from ‘fighting to the last Ukrainian’ to ‘maybe it’s time to wrap this conflict up,’” Shannon told Sputnik.
“You can see evidence of this change in the coverage of the diplomatic portion of the conflict,” he noted.
“The Regime Media is discussing negotiations without the previous preconditions. Zelensky can read the room and may be thinking that listening to Trump will signal an openness to alternative outcomes for the war.”
However, Shannon also floated the opposite possibility: that Zelensky sees this maneuver as a ploy to provoke the White House into doubling down on support for Ukraine.
“Or, it could be that Zelensky knows Trump is absolutely toxic to the Biden administration and he hopes that by meeting with Trump it will make a negotiated peace at this time anathema to the administration,” he explained. “Call it a ‘diplomatic bank shot’ if you will. A very risky bank shot. Zelensky would have been smarter to continue to ignore Trump.”
“Buying a ticket to the Trump Circus could really backfire for Zelensky,” Shannon said, noting it had the potential for “completely souring Biden and causing support for Ukraine to begin drying up. He would have been better served by saying he didn’t want to interfere in internal US politics.”
“Trump is going to milk this meeting or discussion for all its worth. He will trumpet Zelensky’s change as another victory for Trump foreign policy while condemning Biden’s incompetence,” he added.
