One of the most absurd phenomena in Russia’s war against Ukraine is the Trump-Witkoff-Kushner attempt to “negotiate peace” between Russia and Ukraine. Everything is wrong. US President Donald Trump is so obviously on Russia’s side. Trump has nothing to offer Ukraine, and Ukraine can only lose.
What does Trump want in Ukraine? Far too many people think that Trump represents the United States of America, when the reality is that he is a mafioso who only represents himself and his family and thinks of how he can make money. If he is loyal to any outside power, it is to Putin, whom he has praised so often for being a “genius,” as when he started the war against Ukraine. Outrageously, Trump has repeatedly accused former President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but never Putin, of having started this war. That should suffice to end any Ukrainian conversation with Trump.
For those who did not understand his words, Trump stopped all military and financial assistance to Ukraine from January 2025, when he became US president. This was one of his first actions. Ever since, Trump has only put pressure on Ukraine and none on Russia. He invited the wanted war criminal Putin to the United States and received him personally with a red carpet, while he does not even send out the State Department protocol to meet President Zelensky when he arrives in the US. Trump tells us that he supports Russia and he has twice had the US vote against condemnations of Russia’s war in Ukraine in the United Nations.
Putin’s main demand appears to be that Ukraine give up the quarter of Donetsk oblast that Ukraine has heroically maintained since 2014. The US seems to do whatever it can to force Ukraine to give in to Putin.
Putin, who has arguably never been democratically elected, insists on new presidential elections in Ukraine, where millions are displaced or have been forced to leave the country because of Putin’s war. Putin’s obvious purpose is to weaken and destabilized Ukraine by forcing it through Trump to hold dubious elections. Tellingly, Trump and Witkoff support Putin’s demands, while not asking for any democratic elections in Russia.
Trump, Witkoff and Kushner seem to want to enlarge their fortunes in cooperation with Russia at the expense of Ukraine. Putin’s financial advisor Kirill Dmitiriev has apparently invented an idea of $12 trillion in US-Russia cooperation, while Russia is merely a $2 trillion economy. Only senile Trump can be dumb or mad enough to take such nonsense seriously, but none of his aides dare to say that the emperor is naked – and mentally deficient. This is both stupidity and attempted larceny.
Ultimately, Trump wants to get the Nobel Peace Prize, which he will of course never get since everything he does runs contrary to democracy, freedom and peace.
If Trump is so interested in “peace” in Ukraine, what is the US prepared to offer Ukraine? Nothing. Trump and the Republicans are not even discussing restarting the Biden administration’s generous financial and military support to Ukraine. The much-publicized US-Ukraine Reconstruction Fund is a minimal PR event with merely $75 million from the US Development Finance Corporation, while the EU just granted Ukraine $105 billion for the next two years. Trump’s USA is only a parasite on Ukraine’s body.
By contrast, Russia would get plenty. If the US forces Ukraine to give up its fortress line in the Donetsk region, Russia would finally gain what it has failed to win in 12 years of war. Putin could claim victory. Russia would gain a more advantageous position for the next round of its war of aggression against Ukraine. Putin wants to develop bilateral business relations with Trump and his billionaire friends, and most of all he wants the US to ease or even end its many sanctions against Russia, which will make it easier for him to attack Ukraine more forcefully.
It is obvious why Trump and Putin are interested in peace negotiations. Fut why would Ukraine play along? The only reason is that Ukrainians are very tired of war. Yet they would obtain nothing. Trump is unable to grant any security guarantees to Ukraine and he is far too unreliable and devious to be trusted. Thus, security guarantees from the US are not a serious topic. We don’t even know if NATO really exists after Putin’s fanboy Trump has taken over the US.
The simple truth is that Ukraine has nothing to gain from further “peace” negotiations with Russia and the US. There will be no real ceasefire, apart from if Russia needs a breathing space to mobilize resources for a worse attack. Ukraine must not give up well-defended territory to Russia. It must not legitimize Russia’s occupation of any Ukrainian territories. A messy semi-democratic election in the midst of the war would be worse than no elections. As long as Trump is US president, the US must unfortunately be seen as an anti-democratic supporter of Putin and Russia’s aggression.
Given that it is so obvious how harmful the current trilateral peace negotiations among Russia, the US and Ukraine are, it is quite obvious what should be done:
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.