Ukraine Is Open To Talks With Trump To End War With Russia

Ukrainian officials are holding high-level talks with the incoming Trump administration to narrow their differences in how to settle Ukraine’s war with Russia. They are attempting to do this before president-elect Trump takes office this coming January.

A top aid to Ukrainian President Zelensky is due to meet with Keith Kellogg, President-elect Trump’s choice as special envoy for Russia and Ukraine. Talks are likely to continue for weeks.

While this is an encouraging development, meeting for discussions is far from coming to an acceptable solution. Whether allies or adversaries, nations and groups often meet for talks that come to nothing.

The specific details of what is a red line for Zelensky, what is a red line for Trump, and what the Russians will consider, make all the difference. All of these things are dependent on what happens on the battle field before Trump is inaugurated, which is why the Russians have been pushing so heavily to gain territory as of late.

What is not helpful though, is the media and left wing acting as if negotiating a settlement where Russia keeps some of the land that they stole from Ukraine, is some sort of capitulation that Trump is forcing Ukraine into, on behalf of Russia.

While the ideal would be to eject Russia from all Ukrainian land they stole, including Crimea in 2014, putting Putin in jail for war crimes, and helping install a pro Western democratic government in Russia, that is not realistic.

Even under Biden or Harris, a negotiated settlement was inevitable, thanks in large part to the fact that the Biden administration only gave Ukraine enough to not completely capitulate, and not close to enough to win the war.

With that being said, any deal would have to guarantee Ukraine sovereignty, and the ability to effectively protect itself from any possible future Russian aggression. We will see what the discussions between Zelensky’s administration and Trump’s incoming administration yield.