Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his frustration with Axios reporters Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler at the conclusion of the trilateral talks in Geneva last week when he stated: “We don’t have time for all this shit. We have to decide, and have to finish the war.”
On Wednesday he reiterated his non-negotiable bottom line. NO! – emphatically stating: “Ukraine will not cede territory to Russia or withdraw from land it currently controls… We have to understand that Donbas is a part of our independence. It’s a part of our values. It’s not about the land. It’s not only about territories. It’s about people.”
As Mark Toth and I wrote in The Hill on Thursday, Zelensky channeled 101st Airborne Division Commander Brig. Gen. McAuliffe at Bastogne, Belgium in Dec. 1944. It’s Nuts! all over again.
And yet the White House stubbornly continues to press ahead. Which makes us wonder: What part of NO! does Team Trump not seem to understand?
Prior to the Munich Security Conference, President Donald Trump told reporters “Zelensky is going to have to get moving. Russia wants to make a deal, and Zelensky is going to have to get moving otherwise, he’s going to miss a great opportunity. He has to move.”
During the conference, Zelensky said US officials told him, “an end [to the war in Ukraine could] come as quickly as possible if Kyiv withdraws from the Donbas.”
Then on Monday, as the President was returning to Washington, he reiterated, “Ukraine better come to the table fast.”
But ceding the Donbas to Russia will not be part of the solution – no matter how many times the White House repeats the narrative.
What will be part of the solution are security guarantees that provide a lasting peace for Ukraine and Eastern Europe. And that means skin in the game by the US, NATO, the European Union and the “coalition of the willing” – not just dried ink on a piece of paper.
Ukraine wants a treaty – a legally binding written agreement governed by international law. Once bitten, twice shy – they learned their lesson with the Budapest Memorandum in 1994.
In short, they want boots on the ground – shared risk – jet fighters in the sky, clearly established borders, weapons, munitions and a standing army to deter another invasion. They do not need a cheering section.
As Zelensky said: “When we speak about security guarantees, we mean strong guarantees that the rest of the world – or some countries – will be ready to respond if or when Putin returns with his aggression.”
It is unlikely that Russia will agree to any security guarantees currently on the table – specifically European peacekeepers in Ukraine.
The Kremlin is trying to set conditions to achieve their end game – the eradication of all things Ukraine.
So where is the pushback from the US negotiation team on Russia’s refusal to compromise on Ukraine’s position on the Donbas and security guarantees? Why is it that only Ukraine is expected to bend?
That’s the unfairness Zelensky eludes to.
As the Ukrainian President has so bluntly pointed out, “It is easier for Trump to pressure Ukraine than the much larger Russia.”
Let’s be honest here – this is no longer about just stopping the killing. A ceasefire could do that. This has become about making money…
It also provides a bigger payday – if it pays out at all. Simply put – a $12 trillion economic cooperation package presented by Putin’s money man Kirill Dmitriev.
But on Wednesday Dmitriev reportedly upped the ante, telling Washington if they lifted sanctions on Russia, the US could gain access to joint projects with Moscow now worth more than $14 trillion.
Let’s be honest here – this is no longer about just stopping the killing. A ceasefire could do that. This has become about making money too, and to do that, the White House needs to get Zelensky to stop resisting and withdraw from the Donbas.
Stopping the killing has become a means to an end. Using Kremlin logic – the killing stops and peace begins when Ukraine capitulates to Russia.
Team Trump’s methods to get Ukraine to stop resisting and accept Russia’s maximalist demands have drawn ire though.
To actually stop the killing – Russia must stop attacking. Negotiations have not achieved that – they have only intensified the attacks and prolonged the killing.
As Mark and I have stated often, to get Russia to stop attacking will require blunt force. That means direct confrontation with the Russian military, and to date, there has not been enough calcium in Brussels or Washington to develop the backbone necessary to do that.
Fear of Russian escalation creates indecision, and Russia continues to play that card. Only that does not hinder Ukraine, which has inflicted over 1,256,950 casualties, and destroyed over 11,682 tanks, 24,054 armored fighting vehicles and 37,384 artillery systems. Their ability to strike deep within the Russian interior – targeting oil refineries, ammunition storage facilities, drone production facilities, airfields and government offices keeps “grandpa in his bunker.”
Little has been achieved in stopping Russia from striking Ukraine’s energy sector, critical infrastructure or residential neighborhoods with ballistic missiles and drones provided by their “arsenals of evil” – Iran and North Korea.
NASAMS and Patriot batteries reportedly sit empty in Ukraine.
A European-led Integrated Air Protection Zone (IAPZ) – Skyshield – remains in concept only.
Last March, the Trump administration suspended delivery of all US military aid to Ukraine, “blocking billions of dollars’ worth of crucial shipments, as the White House piled pressure on Kyiv to reach a peace deal with Russia.”
Zelensky’s approach to the Donbas and the end of the war is as clear as the US Army motto: “This we will defend.” He may very well have to do it alone as the US and Europe remain on the sidelines “appeasing the [Russian bear], hoping it will eat [them] last.”
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that, “Putin believes he is winning… and is convinced that even if it takes 18 months to two years to complete his hold on the Donbas region, each day of fighting and each night of Russian missiles and drones raining down on energy infrastructure and apartment buildings secure him more leverage.”
In an interview with Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft and Rheinpfalz on Thursday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he thought the war would end “only when one of the two parties is exhausted, either militarily or economically.”
The West could make that happen – but it requires more than speeches.
Zelensky is not waiting for a Patton to come along and bail him out. What was true in February 2022 is just as valid in February 2026, “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.”
In what could be Zelensky’s 300 moment – a modern day Battle of Thermopylae where King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fought against Xerxes and his Persian army – the message to his valiant Ukrainian defenders is: “Come back with your shield – or on it.”
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
Copyright 2026. Jonathan E. Sweet. All rights reserved,