Volodymyr Zelensky | FRAGMENTEN UIT HET SCHEMERLAND

AI-GENERATED POLITICAL CARTOONS: Ghibli-style cartoon of Putin and Trump cutting and dividing a cake as a symbol of Ukraine.

In the early days of his young presidency, Donald Trump’s cabinet members couldn’t stop praising his dealmaking skills. I think it was his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who said Trump was probably the only person in the universe who could negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Lately, it’s been a little quieter on that front. Now that America is heading towards a recession and trillions in stock market value have been wiped out thanks to Trump’s tariffs, it’s hard to argue that he’s a great dealmaker – especially since he hasn’t secured a single trade deal to make up for the carnage he caused. How embarrassing.

During the campaign, Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours – a promise anyone with half a brain could see was complete nonsense. After all, to negotiate a successful deal, you need information about the other party that’s hard to come by. Trump doesn’t know anything about the conflict, and he doesn’t care either way. He just wants them to stop fighting and freeze the conflict as it stands. In other words: he wants to reward Putin for starting a war of aggression by handing him over occupied Ukrainian land. And when Zelensky refuses, Trump blames him for the war. Anyone can end a conflict by rewarding the bully and punishing the victim.

The USA has made it clear in the past week that they want both Russia and Ukraine to agree to a peace deal. In this proposed deal, only Ukraine is expected to make significant concessions – like giving up large swaths of land. Russia, on the other hand, is rewarded with the lifting of Western sanctions. If they don’t agree, the USA will simply walk away from the conflict.

J.D. Vance said the USA has engaged in “an extraordinary amount of diplomacy”. That’s total crap. What did they actually do? First, they sent an amateur delegation to Saudi Arabia to meet with Russia’s hardened negotiation team. The main topic of discussion? Restoring economic relations with the USA. Before that, Pete ‘Bourbon Pete’ Hegseth – already the worst Minister of Defense of all time – gave away all of Ukraine’s bargaining chips before negotiations even began.

Trump also proposed a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, which Zelensky agreed to – only for Putin to reject it without facing any consequences. More recently, the USA sent another amateur diplomat to Russia, special envoy Steve Witkoff, who praised Vladimir Putin in glowing terms as such a nice and trustworthy guy – while women and children are being raped and murdered in Ukraine under Putin’s orders.

Through all this so-called “extraordinary diplomacy”, the Trump regime hasn’t made a single demand of Putin – the aggressor in the conflict. Not one. What it has done is try to extort Ukraine – the victim – out of its rare earth minerals and natural resources. That effort failed, too.

You don’t have to understand negotiations to know this is the lowest level of dealmaking imaginable. It’s not even a serious attempt. It’s obvious that Trump wants nothing more than a cozy relationship with Putin, whom he so deeply admires. He couldn’t care less about what happens to Ukraine.

At this point, a few things are crystal clear. First, Trump is a terrible dealmaker who doesn’t understand history. Second, there’s clearly some kind of relationship between Trump and Putin, the nature of which remains mysterious. Is Trump just a fan of Putin’s authoritarian style – or is he a Russian asset?

Finally, it’s time for Europe to take the lead in Ukraine and step up efforts to pressure Putin and ensure a long-term Ukrainian victory. In its current state, America is a useless friend and ally. Let them first get rid of the disaster that is Trump – then, maybe, we can be friends again. Until then, it’s best they get out of the way.

On February 24, 2022, the Russian army invaded Ukraine. Many, including myself and Russian President Vladimir Putin, initially believed it would be a short operation. Putin expected to topple the Ukrainian government within three days and install a puppet regime, turning Ukraine into a vassal state. However, events unfolded quite differently.

Rather than surrendering and giving up their sovereignty, Ukraine sought Western support, receiving weapons that allowed them to fiercely resist the Russian invasion. To avoid appearing weak, Putin escalated the conflict into a full-scale war, which has now dragged on for three years. During this time, Russia has managed to occupy around 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, but progress has been painstakingly slow and has come at an enormous cost in human lives, financial resources, and military equipment.

Russia’s relentless ‘meat grinder’ tactics are unsustainable. The country is running out of funds to continue the war while its economy struggles with soaring inflation and high interest rates. This puts Putin in a precarious position. If the West maintains pressure and Ukraine continues to receive support, Putin may eventually be forced to withdraw – a move that would leave him vulnerable to backlash from Russian elites, the public, and key power groups.

So far, Putin has consistently framed the military operation in Ukraine as a necessary measure to protect Russian speakers and to achieve the ‘demilitarization and denazification’ of Ukraine. He claims that Ukraine has been under the control of neo-Nazis and Western influences, posing a direct threat to Russia’s security. But if he pulls out of Ukraine without achieving these objectives, how will he justify it?

Trump may have just provided him with a convenient narrative. According to expert Konstantin Samoilov, Putin could use the Trump administration’s pro-Russian stance to declare victory. Samoilov suggests that Putin might announce this on May 9 – Victory Day in Moscow.

“In my eyes, Putin has won”, Samoilov stated in a recent episode of Silicon Curtain. “For three years, he has been telling Russians: ‘We are not fighting Ukraine; we are fighting the collective West, led by the USA, which is using Ukraine as a proxy.’ Now he has an event in the White House where Zelensky was basically kicked out. Additionally, the U.S. suspended military aid to Ukraine, and Ukrainian forces withdrew from Kursk. That, to Putin, is a victory. On May 9, he might say: ‘Dear Russians, we have fought the USA – and we have won.’”

While an end to the war might seem like a relief for Ukraine and the West, Samoilov warns that Russia’s withdrawal could signal something even more sinister. “Putin will end the special military operation in its current form, only to replace it with something far worse. He will shift the Russian economy and society into full-scale war mode. He will say: ‘This war is over, but the threat remains – and now it is even bigger because it is Europe.’ The Kremlin will manufacture reasons to convince Russians that the real enemy is closer than ever, and the state will take complete control of the economy.”

I find Samoilov’s arguments compelling. The Russian military simply does not have the strength to continue pushing forward, especially if Europe remains committed to supplying Ukraine with resources – which I believe they will. As Silicon Curtain host Jonathan Fink points out, there are already signs that the Kremlin is preparing for this shift. Russian propaganda is framing recent U.S. actions as evidence that the Kremlin’s narratives were correct all along, reinforcing the image of Russia as the victor. Last week, Putin made Trump wait an hour before speaking to him in the ‘negotiations’ call to show the people that he was the big alpha male and Trump is basically his bitch.

Once again, we – the West – should not underestimate Putin as we did in the past. If he indeed ends the Ukraine war, we must assume that he will be back in full force. We are very far from a permanent peace with Russia, and arguably this can only be achieved if Russia is defeated. An inconvenient truth if ever there was one.