WaPo reports.
The post:
I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 4, 2025
None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under…
Posts
87 comments:
Looks like VZ wised up and is rejecting the advice of that TDS nut Chris Murphy.
Trump will end this war and we will get paid back. Genius.
So -- he's seeming to be sensible. Turn off the USA money and good things can happen.
This guy is bipolar. Will somebody please replace his blow with lithium for the good of humanity?
He really doesn't have a clue. The correct strategy is to say we are fully behind President Trump's wish for peace including an immediate ceasefire, putting the pressure on Putin to accede to Trump. Put Putin in the position of being the one to balk Trump and piss him off, if anyone does. This is so simple and they just can't figure it out.
Part of any US deal: Free Cálin Georgescu
This is really troubling:
“So NATO is building a massive base right on Romania's border with Ukraine,
but we're expected to swallow the lie that it's pure coincidence that Cálin Georgescu --
who openly opposes this base—lost the election and is now arrested.”
https://x.com/ricwe123/status/1894749419611861109
Zelensky really is a leftist controlled toady.
Maybe he listened to his ambassador who spent the White House meeting with her head buried in her hands.
Kiev will still pose a forward-looking threat to Ukrainians under the coup regime with an axis of malefactors.
Not good enough. Sure, it's a move in the right direction.
I'm struck by how much power he thinks he has.
If the US drops Zelensky - he is toast.
Stick with your EU partner, creep. - the same ones who arrest leaders and jail them - just like Putin does.
We should not work with Ukraine until Zelensky is replaced as the leader of that country. The ultranationalist regime in Ukraine needs to be completely removed from power.
Additionally there should be no further aid to Ukraine until a complete audit of previous aid is complete and the war profiteers in both the US and Ukraine are in jail.
"Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way."
This sentence makes it sound like it was 'the meeting's' fault. Dude still has no idea that he was Chef de Cuisine in the live sausage-making session seen on Friday. IF there is another opportunity, dude will flub that one too, watch.
Just an old country lawyer said...
Maybe he listened to his ambassador who spent the White House meeting with her head buried in her hands.
I expect he got a royal bitch-out from his entire government when he got back, including his wife! The Senate Dem hawks really lead him down the primrose path.
I'm suspicious of the wording. Sounds like a Chris Murphy caucus triangulation do-over. Make Trump appear the unreasonable in front of the media if he doesn't agree to phase X, when phases Y and Z are anything but certain and infinitely elastic.
The war was conceived with denocracy dies in darkness, birthed in a coup, and progressed with a denial of essential services to Ukranians (perchance Russians) in Crimea. 50 shades of war waged against Serbia in another ethnic Spring.
The year began with Trump begging for peace and Zelensky holding out for more.
How it’s going - Zelensky’s begging for peace and Trump’s holding out for more.
RideSpaceMountain said...
This guy is bipolar. Will somebody please replace his blow with lithium for the good of humanity?
Not bipolar. Stupid and corrupt.
He listened to the Democrats in their stupid little "lunch" session and thought he had hand. Just like the leaders of Europe he thought he was more important than he actually is.
Ukraine, Europe, and the rest of the globalist regime is in for some humiliation. It is time to find out where all that money went in Ukraine.
Russia is a more honest and morally mature regime than what is currently lording over Europe. We should be working with them bilaterally until Europe grows up. We need to cut off all US taxpayer support to the corrupt regimes in Europe and they need to be brought down or they will start world war III the same way they started I and II.
"Then we want to move very fast through all next stages ...".
That's what I always do, when I'm negotiating a price. I say, "Look, I'm in a huge hurry here, if this doesn't get done very quickly, I'm in big trouble". That really puts the pressure on the other side.
"Maybe he listened to his ambassador who spent the White House meeting with her head buried in her hands."
More likely, she is being waterboarded in a basement somewhere, prior to being shot. Perhaps after a show trial.
Once again, in the media battle, Trump 1 EU/Democrats/Putin/Zellenskyy 0.
One Trump equals 1000 Eurosnobs. I believe that Ukraine is not my business, but I still like watching the show.
Somebody else wrote those words, certainly not the little cretin...I mean Zellenskyy.....and they don't mean one word of what they are saying. All platitudes and zero substance.
Zelensky may have a bad hand but he plays his cards well.
I personally don’t think he wants the minerals deal. But Europe has told him he has to have a “U.S. Backstop” for a peace deal with Putin. He doesn’t want to say yes but he can’t say no.
Of course, he does have a hole card. He can surrender to Putin without Trump or Europe behind him and leave us and them with nothing.
“Partial ceasdfie” my ass. Ceasefires need to be 100% or they are nothing.
Something that Trump knows well is that you always have to give the other negotiating party a chance to save face. Trump is ratcheting up the pressure but in a way that Zelensky can change his position to something more reasonable.
Something that Trump knows well is that you always have to give the other negotiating party a chance to save face. Trump is ratcheting up the pressure but in a way that Zelensky can change his position to something more reasonable.
Word out is that the White House is demanding a recorded or written apology. It's a shame the making of political headcheese has to be gruesomely public now, but democrats wouldn't have it any other way.
Zelensky made a public ass of himself, and he can be publicly contrite as well.
Jupiter (10:59) has a point. Ukraine under Zelenskyy calls to my mind something Abraham Lincoln said in 1855:
''When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty---to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy.”
I'd like Zelenski to tell us which democrats he is speaking to.
Zelensky is all about Zelensky. not his people.
Similar to American Democrats.
Taking advice from Europe on ceasefire proposal.
Fortunately Althouse commenters do not represent general US opinion on Ukraine. If Trump is art of the deal he'll move on and start thinking how he works Putin.
Z will end up bending the knee.
Readering: "Taking advice from Europe on ceasefire proposal.
Fortunately Althouse commenters do not represent general US opinion on Ukraine"
According to CNN's very own polling, Althouse commenters certainly do represent general US opinion on Ukraine.
Thanks for playing Delaware Completely Corrupted Chancery Court Fanboy!
Sounds like the wheels are starting to come off of Zelenskyy's "framework".
LOL- Drago 11:46.
Readering is as desperate as her dems.
The #1 issue - making Sure Trump doesn't get any credit for anything ever...
You folks continue to act like cry-babies. This is great news and it also demonstrates how the firm hand of Donald Trump is moving this negotiation towards stopping The killing you know all of the thousands of dead young people that are being created in Ukraine every f****** week.
I actually listen to what Donald Trump says. He holds press conferences every day you should listen to them. Half of you sound like Putin apologists. Disgusting is the most family-friendly descriptor of your pathetic and weak attitudes.
Big Mike said ---
“Partial ceasefire” my ass. Ceasefires need to be 100% or they are nothing. "
Exactly.
All this is - posturing. The collective left demand war. They wish to drag war out, and potentially re-start it in 4 years - until the corrupt left install their voter cheat machine again.
They are already starting in places like Philadelphia
Many have noted that any peace deal still requires a “US backstop”.
If that means that any deal still requires a US boots on the ground presence after the conflct is over, I believe that is a non-starter in the current White House. It is certainly a non-starter in my house.
Jupiter said, "Sounds like the wheels are starting to come off of Zelenskyy's 'framework'."
They don't need Italy's help. Word is the Ursula Von Der Leyen's son is a one man army who - with swords flashing in both hands - shall save Ukraine and defeat Russia within his first 30 minutes of combat on Ukrainian soil.
He doesn't serve in the Bundeswehr and Ursula laughed when asked if he was going to fight, but I'm sure British and French boys will be glad to hear about his manly Conan-like prowess from afar over her witchlike laughter.
Howard - Cry babies?
No. That's the hivemind left. We can smell a rat here. Nothing to do with crying. froot smoothie.
"Fortunately Althouse commenters do not represent general US opinion on Ukraine."
Now do any prog website in October of 2024.
The "opinion" you speak of is as manufactured and ungrounded as any vomitous reality TV show.
In my own workplace I've seen a near total swing from "valiant little Ukraine" to "corrupt Euro-leech Ukraine" in the last two years.
That's right April. The hive mind on the left and the hive mind on the right are both addicted to whining and complaining and catastrophizing every little scratch bump and hiccup in the road.
Side note I think it's pathetic seeing you suck up to Drago after the way he treated you over the last couple of years.
Well, whatyda know? Imagine that...
Chris Murphy (D-Liverlips) should, at a minimum, be censured.
Ideally, he would be prosecuted for sedition. But that would take an even-handed approach to justice.
" civilian and energy infrastructure" will be extremely hard to define, especially with regard to differentiating from 'military' infrastructure.
Howard - that's because I'm not a cry baby.
Once in a while Drago makes me laugh. sue me.
"Partial ceasefire" is Nuland's idea.
Ukraine has to halt strikes on energy infrastructure because the US is cutting off the supply of long-range weapons. Putin will never halt strikes on energy infrastructure, because that's the best strategy available to him. Zelensky is wisely making a virtue of necessity, even though he must realize Putin will never agree to such a truce.
"Fortunately Althouse commenters do not represent general US opinion on Ukraine."
And yet Trump won on a promise to make peace. All of the Democrats on here are baying for more war, more death, let's gamble with WW3! I think that victoria might be the only legitimate liberal on here. I never hear her crying to let slip the dogs of war, like the rest of our purported lefties. On the bright side, WWI and WWII took years to play out. WW3 will be over by some estimates in about 70 minutes, well the fighting anyway, the dying will go on for many months, radiation poisoning, the end of prescription drugs, starvation, etc, etc..
"Zelensky is wisely making a virtue of necessity, even though he must realize Putin will never agree to such a truce."
That is a strange use of the word "wisely." Zelensky is devious, but not clever.
A framework. Kinda like a concept of a plan?
Seriously, I think that Zelensky believes that his strikes on Russian energy infrastructure is causing them enough pain to make them bite on it. I personally doubt it. Look how many hits Ukraine has suffered and they still want to fight. Russia sees this war as existential, they are not going to fold their hand over some minor economic damage.
The whole idea that Russia will fold when Ukraine never would have is more of the Ukrainian master race theory. They will never use the term "master race" but they believe that due to the Mongol invasion never reaching them, they are the pure slavs, and that Russians aren't even slavs, so they think that Russia will fold.
A partial cease-fire? I cannot recall an instance of such a thing in military history. No long range combat, but trench warfare carries on -- who would agree to such terms? Just negotiating the terms of such a half-truce could take years. And who would monitor the semi-cease-fire, the U.N., and with what authority to sanction the violators? Putin won't agree to that because he's not stupid. And why would Zelenskyy agree? He's not stupid, either. Ukraine has held on these three years primarily because of the use of sophisticated ranged weaponry like the M777 howitzer and fighter-bombers like the F-16. If the fighting is confined to small arms and mortars, the side with more infantry is bound to win by attrition. War isn't a hockey match. There are no referees, no penalty box. Both sides would have compelling reasons to cheat, and without a well-armed neutral party monitoring the battle front, partial-cease-fire violations will be the rule, not the exception. (I know, let's create a race of intelligent robots and arm them with genocidal weapons capable of exterminating anyone they deem to be aggressive, and we'll name one of them Gort. Klaatu barada nikto.)
U.N. peacekeeping efforts have a very spotty record. Generally, they've failed unless the waring sides are impoverished Third World actors who have already fought each other to near-exhaustion before the White Helmets ever touch the ground, or where there is are strong motivations on both sides to observe a truce. For example, the situation in Cyprus has largely remained non-violent chiefly because Greece is heavily in debt to the richer European Union members, and Turkey wants E.U. membership more than it wants a wholly Turkish Cyprus. However, the United Nations has never monitored a partial cease-fire because it's a ludicrous notion.
Some have praised Volodymyr Zelenskyy former career as a comedian. He's a funny guy, they claim. OK, then it's a joke, this non-cease-fire cease fire he has proposed. It's a trick to get EU and American troops into the line-of-fire that will generate a steady stream of flag-draped caskets arriving daily at Heathrow, Tempelhof, and JFK.
Trump won't bite because he's smart. Sir Keir Starmer probably will because he's stupid.
The best thing to come out of Zelensky's blow up is that, now, the Russians see Trump as a fair broker for peace. If he would have let Zelensky go on, he would have looked to the Russians as trying to harm them in the peace process. By smacking down Zelensky, the Russians see him as more neutral and fair party. We already see the Russians wanting to normalize the relations with the US faster.
The Democrats and Europe needs to understand that the Cold War ended in 1991. The Warsaw Pact was disbanded and the walls were torn down. As part of the agreement to re-unify Germany, we made a promise not to move NATO one inch to the east. In 1994, Bill Clinton broke that promise and effectively created a little cold war. Every movement of NATO eastward, brought Russian complaints and complaints that were ignored. The interest in adding Georgia and the Ukraine to NATO was more than the Russians could stand. Imagine if Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean nations joined the Warsaw Pact. It would be the Cuban Missile Crisis on steroids.
The true tragedy is that after the end of the Cold War, we did not work to bring Russia into the European Homogeny. We continued to make them the boogie man of Europe. After WWII, we converted Germany and Japan into allies by helping them recover and find a place in the Western world. With the Warsaw Pact gone, much of the need for NATO was gone. Russia alone without the nations subsumed by the Soviet Union was a much small threat. But many still held on to the Cold War mentality.
We've done this to our selves. Our hostile attitude helped shape the Russian's hostile attitude
At this point I don't care much what Zelenskyy has to say. He's "high on his own supply". I've got a sort of generalized wish to end this meatgrinding war. But in Little Vlodomir can't act like a decent human being, well then let him and his country stew in their own folly. I'm done with them.
I wonder if it hurt. Back pedaling so fast.
And for those of you gloating that Trump is sidling up to Putin. Putin knows he needs to end this. He's known for a long time. Russia can't fight a logistical war. He no longer has the men and materiel to save face.
A meaningless statement. Nothing Zelensky can offer will be accepted by the Russians who will get what they want on the battlefield. Trump's try for a peaceful end is noble but the fact is that the Russians don't need despite what you read constantly in the propaganda media. The Russians will be perfectly happy to grind the Ukrainian Army into dust over the next five years and even ten years if that is what it takes . That was the mistake Biden and his ass puppeteers and all the sniveling Eurocrats made- they underestimated by a million miles the patience of the Russian government. It won't even help if Putin dies of a heart attack tommorow- he would just be replaced by a man who will follow the exact same policies.
Yancey Ward: what's your basis for saying Russians can go on forever? Japanese War leading to 1905 Revolution? WW1 leading to Russian Revolutions? Afghan War leading to end of USSR? Rusty more accurate.
Tom said...
"Something that Trump knows well is that you always have to give the other negotiating party a chance to save face."
3/4/25, 11:21 AM
In theory, this is true. But the calculus changes if you're dealing with a malcontent inside your coalition, particularly a desperate supplicant. And it changes further if you can afford to "lose," horrifically damaging your nominal allies and forcing them into subjugation to you. It's particularly necessary if you're surrounded by retards who think demands beyond maximalist expectations are acceptable. Zelensky is begging President Trump for help, and he is likely to be countered with an even harsher deal- assuming the US simply refuses all further contact with him. Sure the NPC left is outraged, but when are they not?
None of us wants and endless war He did want and endless war. Had no choice but to change his mind when Trump cut off the money.
If you want to see a cease-fire, just have our Army turn off their targeting services. That ought to take care of any issues. That's probably coming next - suspension of all the intelligence and behind-the-scenes facilitation that has been propping up this fool. He's not ready to explore peace yet. I wouldn't be surprised to see Trump meet with Putin again, without Zelensky - again.
I'm not so sure the Senate meeting is what wound up Zelensky to 'spit the dummy', I think he came primed to stir it up. The Ukrainians are the ones that asked for the public signing ceremony in DC, well before he even got here, well before he met with the Senate. They could have quietly signed it in Kiev days earlier.
No, I think he's been talking with someone else, maybe thinking he can screw out a better deal with the EU - but as we can see, that ain' t gonna happen. Georgia Meloni, Italy's PM, was asked by Starmer and Macron if she'll support peace keeping and she said 'You bet ! Send your soldiers though, not mine.'
We still haven't heard the full story on what's going on, but trying to make Trump look foolish is just a small side show I think.
They will never use the term "master race" but they believe that due to the Mongol invasion never reaching them, they are the pure slavs, and that Russians aren't even slavs, so they think that Russia will fold.
That's nonsense, the Mongols sacked Kiev in 1240 and subjugated all of the local princes of Kievan Rus, the mother country of what is now Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Most of modern Ukraine was indeed incorporated into the Mongol Empire and remained subject to its successor khanate, the Empire of the Golden Horde. Parts of Ukraine were still under the Crimean Khanate until the late 1600s.
No more meetings. Docusign.com this time.
I didn't think the few billion Starmer kicked to him was going to last too long. Unfortunately, he added injury to insult but running to the progressive leaders of Europe and having them join in a chorus of berating Americans. If it was me, I'd tell Putin and Zelensky to figure it out on their own, or with their EU neighbors, while I focus on my own domestic issues. Good news for all, DOGE is only supposed to last until July, so if the warring parties haven't figured it out by July, maybe the US can chat then.
"Fortunately Althouse commenters do not represent general US opinion on Ukraine."
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand Zelensky completely caved after 3 days of ridiculous pronouncements from Europe and even more ridiculous pronouncements from the commentariat. Turns out seething on cable TV and on the internet doesn't change reality: the US holds all the cards, everyone knows it, and no one can change it.
Under Zelensky's offer the troops keep dying but attacks on Kiev where he is stop immediately.
Probably Ukrainian long range missile attacks can't happen without US targeting assistance. And he's probably fresh out of missiles as well.
"No I think he's been talking to someone else." He's been talking to the same handlers he's always talking to - US CIA/State Department. Ukraine has been a client state of the US CIA/State Department/USAID for many years.
As I keep saying, the left (which includes the alphabet agencies) want/need to destroy Russia because they're pissed that Russia allowed the Soviet Union to collapse.
Readering writes, "Afghan War leading to end of USSR?"
Perhaps you can cite an author who gives that notion any credit. The scholars I've read -- Richard Pipes, Orland Figes, Stephen Kotkin, Serhii Plokhy -- all consider the Soviet-Afghan War a neglectable factor.
The Russo-Japanese war did not cause the 1905 revolution, it simply created an opportunity for a outbreak that had been brewing since 1825 and recently exacerbated by the oppressive policies of Alexander III and the incompetence of Nicholas II. Russia lost that conflict through two primary factors:
1) In 1904, the rail route from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok had about 1000 miles of gaps. (It wasn't completed until 1916.)
2) The Second Pacific Squadron was comprised of obsolete and ill-maintained warships crewed by incompetent sailors and commanded by near-lunatics.
Neither the hardships of the war nor the humiliations of the Treaty of Portsmouth were sufficient to overthrow the tsarist autocracy, just mollify it a bit with a mostly powerless Duma.
ABC News, whatever credibility they carry, is suggesting Trump is willing to sign today and before his speech if possible. Considering that it is near midnight in Europe and certainly in Ukraine, I wonder if Zelensky is awake to get anything done. I can see the reason for haste by Trump right now for his speech, but I think he is letting Zelensky off easy.
"That's nonsense, "
Not categorically true in every single last detailed implication does not make it "nonsense." It's largely true. I have heard it said by Ukrainian mouthpieces enough times. Crimean, for one thing, is as Russian a place as you can find, and only became part of Ukraine through a diktat by Khrushchev.
I am not sure what the Ukrainian insult "Moskol" means, but to my English speaking ear, it sounds like Mongol and Moscow. There is a *lot* of racism in Ukrainian thinking on the war. I have argued with them a lot before I quit X due to its addictiveness.
Do you think Readering lights a candle to Ronald Reagan each morning, and has pictures of George W Bush and Dick Cheney on his desk?
I know that I have had years to digest how I got tricked into supporting the Iraq War, and I think that a lot of conservatives feel sick over getting sucked into it the same way I do, and we won't get fooled again, certainly not by neocons who have betrayed us in domestic politics and spent years trying to destroy Donald Trump.
You probably should have mentioned that earlier.
Left Bank said…"Of course, [Zelensky] does have a hole card. He can surrender to Putin without Trump or Europe behind him and leave us and them with nothing."
I'm struggling to understand this. What is the "something" that the US wants that we won't get if Zelensky surrendered?
BTW, the reason that we are getting told that all of Russia's best tanks have been destroyed, as night follows day, is because most of the Challenger II tanks that Britain gave Ukraine, and more than half of the Abrams tanks we gave them, have been destroyed.
All you need to decode Ukrainian propaganda is to assume that whatever the claim is happening to the Russians is what they are experiencing, or if they claim that the Russians are attacking something like Chernobyl just out of spite, or destroyed a dam that provides agricultural water to Crimea, or blew up one of their own key pipelines, you can bet the Ukrainians did it.
Left Bank is another Dick Cheney-George W Bush fan!
I think it's highly possible that Vicky from Pasadena and possibly a few passers by, but mostly her, that she is the only genuine lefty commenter that we have.
"What is the "something" that the US wants that we won't get if Zelensky surrendered?"
Sometimes a comment cuts right to the quick. He won't answer.
Jaq: I have written before here that I was most upset by an election outcome in 1980 because of my fear that it meant WW3, but by the end of his presidency I had come to appreciate Reagan for his part in ending the Cold War. And I always opposed the Iraq war, and viewed Bush 2 as much worse than Trump 1. Hoping Trump's madman theory works on our enemies next 4 years. But too risky for me.
most of the Challenger II tanks that Britain gave Ukraine, and more than half of the Abrams tanks we gave them, have been destroyed.
45 total (14 Challenger 2, 31 M1A1 SA) were given to Ukraine. About 2/3 have been destroyed. This is dwarfed by Russia's tank and general armored vehicle losses, and by Ukraine's losses of its prewar tank and armored vehicle stocks. The Bradley has performed well in Ukraine while also taking losses. Armored vehicles on both sides have been lost in large numbers because of the nature of the combat.
"And I always opposed the Iraq war"
Yet you are ready to follow the same madmen into the next one. OK. I am not.
Here's why the EU loves Russia and not Ukraine
If Zelensky is mad about "words, words, words," and he wants help in his war against Russia, he should be calling on the EU to boycott Russian oil and gas.
Don’t trust this thug Z. Get rid of him. He showed his true face and it’s not someone you want to do business with. He doesn’t want to step down and just like that he is ready for peace, yea right. This thug needs to be shown his proper place.
Armored vehicles are death traps in this war. The Russians fully absorbed this lesson in year 1 of the war. The Ukrainians and the idiots in the west still haven't fully grasped this lesson- it is why you saw the suicidal offenses Ukraine tried at the urging of the Biden Defense Department in the Summer of 2023- and they were still doing as of last Summer.
The Russians just bombard area with a relentless barrage of artillery and drones and then move in with small and mobile groups of infantry to finish cleaning out remaining Ukrainian forces still alive. They have been following this strategy without a single change now for 2 years and it gains territory relentlessly. Even if NATO continues to supply the same level of weapons, it isn't going to change the fact that the Ukrainians find it increasingly difficult to field men for the fighting and, as their air defenses fail, they will find it impossible to keep producing any sort of weapons themselves because they simply won't be able to keep the lights on.
Zelensky is a puppet. Nuland and Obama and Rice have their hands so far up his ass you can see their hands when he talks.
The fun really starts when we find out how all of these people became billionaires. Obama turned out to just be your run of the mill war profiteer in the end.
And it sounds like we are going to be hearing about connections between Crooks and Nuland soon enough.
The mineral deal that Zelensky is now ready to sign is no longer on the table. Treasury Sec. Bessent says that Trump is holding out for a "bigger, better" deal.
They have been following this strategy without a single change now for 2 years and it gains territory relentlessly.
At a snail's pace. Since taking Avdiivka a year ago their main thrust has advanced about 50 miles on a 15 mile wide front. 50 miles in a year. I guess you could call it relentless in the sense that the snail hasn't stopped.
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