NoW UDATES: UKRAINE, WHERE ARE YE NOW?

 

SO FAR, about where it was before yesterday’s Alaskan summit meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin. I haven’t seen any read-outs of what was said and/or agreed to at the meeting but I think it’s fair to say that America’s involvement in Ukraine—sending billions of dollars worth of weapons and financial support—is drawing to a close. Neither Zelensky nor the Europeans were invited, suggesting that Trump is re-prioritizing American military spending away from Eastern Europe. It’s interesting that Trump stated that the conflict in Ukraine will only end with a peace “treaty”. 

👉After his three-hour meeting with Putin, the American president seems to have changed his stance on how the conflict will be resolved—not with an immediate “ceasefire” and ‘freezing’ of the 1,000 km. line of contact, but rather through substantive negotiations addressing the Kremlin’s core demands: Ukrainian neutrality (No NATO and perhaps no EU), the four eastern oblasts and Crimea are to be acknowledged as Russian territory; elections to establish a legitimate government in Kiev; denazification and demilitarizing of a future rump Ukraine. And all to be formalized in a peace "treaty". 

 

👉PERHAPS Trump’s discussion with President Putin helped him understand Russia’s legitimate security concerns and why a ceasefire is unacceptable to the Russians. We can only hope Trump doesn’t change his mind by Monday when he reads Zelensky and his EU buddies the riot act talks with President Zelensky and his EU counterparts. Trump may be tacitly signaling that without Zelensky’s approval of the “peace plan” based on Russia’s legitimate security concerns as part of a larger European security architecture, the war and its outcome will be decided exclusively on the battlefield and facts on the ground as they develop. Just what America’s involvement in the conflict will be re: supplying weapons, etc., to Ukraine is unclear. We’ll have to see which way the wind is blowing next week.

 

CHEERS, JAKE. ____________________________________