OPINION: Stop Attacking or Stop Resisting: Which Comes First?

Ceasefire negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have reached a critical impasse. Russia continues its offensive operations, while Ukraine persists in its defensive efforts. It resembles the proverbial question of which came first – the chicken or the egg?

For President Donald Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, the “possibility to reshape the Russian-US relationship through some very compelling commercial opportunities” will never come to fruition as long as the two sides continue to shoot at one another.

Trump has tried to strongarm Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into accepting unfavorable terms while enticing Russian President Vladimir Putin with everything he has demanded short of the keys to Kyiv – but to no avail.

And the war goes on. Russia has sustained 951,960 casualties; 35,190 since April 1, for an average of 1,173 casualties a day. At that pace, Russia will surpass the one million casualty mark by June 9.

The Kremlin’s response to their atrocious battlefield losses has been to deliberately target Ukrainian civilians in their homes, schools, churches, and markets. After the Palm Sunday strikes on Sumy, Putin acknowledged that “strikes on civilian objects are carried out if they are used by the Kyiv military.” Without providing any proof, he added, “These are the people we consider criminals who should receive a well-deserved retribution for what they have done… They got this retribution. This was done precisely to punish them.”

Other Topics of Interest

Rutte Calls Ramstein Meeting a ‘Window of Opportunity’ for Ukraine

NATO’s chief Mark Rutte hailed a “window of opportunity” for Ukraine at a Ramstein-format meeting in Brussels on Thursday, with roughly a third of NATO members plus Australia now paying into a joint fund for US-made equipment for Kyiv.

Tragically, 164 Ukrainian civilians were killed and another 910 wounded in Russian attacks in the month of March. According to the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner: “Most casualties were caused by long-range missiles and loitering munitions.” Many of those missiles and loitering munitions came from North Korea and Iran.

The White House’s frustration mounts. According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the President wants “the shooting to stop, he wants the warfare to stop, he wants the dying and the suffering to stop, and he believes – and rightfully so – that the only way to end this war is to negotiate an end to it.”

But the President only seems to want to negotiate with Putin, dictate to Zelensky, and pressure European countries that continue to provide military support to Ukraine. He is concerned about Russian casualties but seldom mentions Ukrainian civilians getting killed and wounded – even pulling the US out from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

The seven-point plan his negotiation team gave to Zelensky in London only addressed Russian demands and reinforced Putin’s conditions for the capitulation of Ukraine. While both Zelensky and EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said neither Ukraine nor Europe would ever recognize the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula as legally Russian – the other points in the Trump plan were non-negotiable as well.

Two days after Zelensky and Trump met prior to the funeral service of Pope Francis in Rome, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisted “Russia will accept nothing less than total victory over Ukraine.” He then demanded the US lift all sanctions against Russia and for international recognition of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as part of Russia.

End of discussion. Lavrov provided his best Jack Nicholson impression from “A Few Good Men” when he asked Tom Cruise “Are we clear?” Witkoff followed Putin to Moscow – seemingly responding: “Crystal.”

As George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War stated, “The Kremlin is rejecting Trump’s proposals… The only thing it [Russia] is willing to negotiate are the terms of US capitulation and Ukrainian surrender.”

That is not winning, it is more akin to humiliation.

Putin does not respect Team Trump; rather, he mocks them, as do his propagandists.

Russia has no intention to stop attacking Ukraine. Trump gave Putin an inch, and over the past 100 days, the Kremlin has taken a yard. The Russian President believes he is winning, and that Trump will not stand in his way. He has been correct up till now. In Sun Tzu terms, he knew the enemy and himself.

On Tuesday, Trump’s Special Envoy, retired US Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, stated on Fox News, “Russia’s not winning this war. Russia has not made any major advances in the last year and a half. They haven’t taken the city of Kyiv, the capital, they haven’t pushed to the west of the Dnipro River, they haven’t taken Odesa.”

It is not too late for the Trump Administration to reverse course; however, it will necessitate a new approach, a new team, and decisive action to persuade Putin that victory is unattainable. Persisting with ineffective negotiations constitutes a futile exercise, or as Albert Einstein called it: insanity.

The signing of the minerals deal between the US and Ukraine to establish the American-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund is a step in the right direction; however, it does not stop Russian ballistic missiles and drones from killing and wounding Ukrainian civilians, nor does it guarantee the lands from which the minerals are to be extracted from will remain in the possession of Ukraine when the war is over.

It does send a message to Putin though. Whether or not he acknowledges the message is yet to be determined. Trump’s willingness to defend his new multi-billion-dollar joint investment is also yet to be determined.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.

Copyright 2025. Jonathan E. Sweet and Mark C. Toth. All rights reserved.