Slava Ukraini (“Glory to Ukraine”): proclaiming the sovereignty of Ukraine and the battle cry for Ukraine’s resistance. Speaking of which, just the other day I watched the shameful, painful press conference of Donald Trump and Volodymr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago.
I couldn’t help but notice that only one of these two men has an accurate understanding of history. Not just an understanding of the recent history of Europe—the rise of Nazism and fascism, the devastating loss of life in World War II, followed by the dreadful Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe—but an appreciation of American history.
Unfortunately for us, it was Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy, not President Donald Trump, who exuded the spirit of those who fought for our independence. It was Zelenskyy who radiated patience and dignity, often, as the spiritual reminds us, ‘buked and scorned. Zelenskyy who suffered Donald Trump’s nonsense and abysmal ignorance, the lies trumpeted by one of the most stupid yet powerful people on Earth.
Zelenskyy stood there on behalf on an entire nation fighting for its existence, forced to defend itself against an evil empire with more than 100 million more people, with three times the per capita income and three times the number of active military personnel. An oligarchy that has never known democracy, responsive only to the few. Russia’s victim these days is Ukraine—its territory invaded; its cities, schools, hospitals, and markets bombed; its children kidnapped. Unrestrained, Russia will wage war until it is defeated on the battlefield.
Zelenskyy came once again to America, looking for the arms and the financial aid his people desperately needed, hoping against hope that the American president would this time pressure Vladimir Putin to end his assault and allow Ukraine to live in peace, finally deliver the 24-hour peace he continually promised.
Even if our president doesn’t, many Americans respect and admire the brave people of Ukraine because each day the Ukrainians offer us a living example of what was required of our Founders: to muster against all odds every ounce of energy and determination to wrest our independence from the British monarchy, doing all that is required to stand up for democracy and self-determination. But, regrettably, Ukraine has now become a living example of how the United States is so often on the wrong side of history and on the side of cowardice, acquiescence, and appeasement.
This is what Zelenskyy left as he journeyed to the United States:
Here’s how The Washington Post put it:
Russia launched a massive attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine early Saturday, targeting the Kyiv region’s energy grid and leaving one-third of the capital without heating, according to Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, as residents face subfreezing temperatures and frost. The assault, which also triggered mass power cuts throughout Kyiv, comes just one day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to arrive in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the latest draft of a peace plan to end the war — a document that Russia has not at all signaled it is prepared to sign.
By midmorning Saturday, Russia had launched nearly 500 Shahed drones and 40 missiles at Ukraine, including ballistic Kinzhals, Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. Several residential buildings were hit, destroying civilian apartments. Footage showed vehicles set ablaze on a major road in Kyiv. A search mission was underway at one building for a person who was trapped under rubble …
Russia has spent months targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a bid to damage the country’s economy and its people’s resolve in the coldest and darkest months of the year. In many parts of the country, including the capital, scheduled blackouts have been in place that leave civilians without power for much of each day. New emergency outages were implemented Saturday in response to the latest attack. The Kremlin refused a Ukrainian request for a Christmas ceasefire.
[Emphasis added.]
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has spent months negotiating with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner—Trump’s two amateur diplomats linked, as some have suggested, in potential conflicts of interest related to real estate development and money-making—in the hopes of leveraging some American commitment to stick up for Ukraine’s territorial integrity. After months of talk, Zelenskky was coming to present to President Trump the proposed 20-point peace plan they had worked on. And yet, just as Zelenskyy was telling the world they were getting close to a deal, Donald Trump announced that he was still the boss:
Politico explains:
President Donald Trump on Friday cast himself as the ultimate arbiter of any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, in an exclusive conversation with POLITICO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Trump in Florida on Sunday and told reporters he’s bringing with him a new 20-point plan for peace. The framework includes a proposed demilitarized zone and the meeting is expected to focus on U.S. security guarantees.
But in an interview, Trump appeared lukewarm to Zelenskyy’s latest overture and in no rush to endorse the Ukrainian president’s proposal. ‘He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,’ Trump said. ‘So we’ll see what he’s got.’ The president’s comments underscore the degree to which Ukraine’s fate rests on convincing Trump that it is conceding enough to satisfy a president who, at times, has appeared inclined to lean toward Russia if it means an end to the war. Russia has moved very little from its maximalist position and has not reacted to the latest proposal. The U.S., meanwhile, has pushed Zelenskyy to move off his original demands and Trump has often seemed to lose patience with the haggling.
[Emphasis added.]
While Donald Trump likes to claim that Putin is prepared to compromise, there has never been any evidence to support that view. The New York Times reports:
On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine presented a 20-point peace plan formulated by Ukrainian and American officials that was a significant departure from a plan drawn up in October that would have essentially forced Ukraine to cede territory and rule out NATO membership.
Mr. Zelensky presented the new proposal as a reasonable compromise to the plan drawn up by Kirill Dmitriev, the special envoy of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy, and unveiled in November. The new blueprint includes the security guarantees Kyiv wants to prevent future Russian aggression, as well as plans to rebuild the war-ravaged nation.
But a Kremlin emboldened by Moscow’s advances on the battlefield and restrained by the difficulty of selling the new plan to the Russian public as a victory is unlikely to accept it.
‘This is an absolute mockery,’ Aleksei Naumov, an analyst of international affairs based in Moscow, said of the new Ukrainian plan in a post on the Telegram messaging app. ‘The idea is clear: Pitch this to the Americans as a “compromise,” and then blame Russia for its failure.’ …
Over the past two years, Mr. Putin has consistently insisted on two main points: Ukraine must withdraw its forces from the rest of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and NATO membership must be ruled out.
Mr. Putin confirmed this position on Friday at his annual news conference. He said that Russia was willing to make some ‘accommodations’ — widely believed to involve giving up some Russian-occupied land in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. But he stressed that Moscow remained willing to continue fighting to fully occupy the Donetsk region.
But the Times highlighted only a portion of what Putin said at his December 19, 2025, news conference. In response to a question, Putin said this about the chances for a negotiated peace: Russian journalist Ekaterina Berezovskaya asked him, “What is the situation on the negotiation track, given Vladimir Zelensky’s statement in Berlin that Ukraine is not ready to discuss the territorial issue?”
Putin responded:
So far we really do not see such readiness. Let me remind you how it all began. It began with the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine and the deception over the potential resolution of all issues through the Minsk agreements. In 2022, when everything had already reached a breaking point, when the Kiev regime unleashed war in southeastern Ukraine, we made it clear to them: listen, we will have no choice but to recognise those unrecognised republics. It would be preferable if you simply let the people live peacefully as they wish, without your coups, without Russophobia and so on—just withdraw your troops from those territories, and that is all …
Today, they are essentially refusing to end this conflict by peaceful means … The only point I wish to convey, and we have always stated this, is that we are ready and willing to conclude this conflict by peaceful means, based on the principles I outlined in June of last year at the Russian Foreign Ministry, provided that the root causes that led to this crisis are eliminated.
[Emphasis added.]
For Putin, the root causes all trace back to the successful Ukrainian overthrow of the corrupt Viktor Yanukovych and his pro-Russian government. Not surprisingly, in the face of overwhelming public opposition, Yanukovych fled to Russia. Yes, the root cause: the Ukrainian determination to be independent, free of Russian interference, and to protect their territorial integrity. Still, Putin insists on calling the Revolution of Dignity “the 2014 coup d’état.” And the invasion and occupation by Russian troops of Crimea and portions of Ukraine as the recognition of Russian unrecognized republics.
And despite their overwhelming casualties and the brutality inflicted on their own soldiers, Putin insists the war is going well for Russia:
Basically, ever since our forces drove the enemy from the Kursk Region, the strategic initiative has been firmly in the hands of the Russian Armed Forces. What does this mean? It means that our forces are advancing along the entire line of contact, faster in some areas, a little slower in others, but in all directions. The adversary is being pushed back.
The key thing, and we started with that when we said that we had offered the Kiev regime to withdraw their troops from the territory of the then-unrecognised republics that did not want to live under the pressure of nationalists: the Kiev regime had already constructed, over the course of a decade, a fortified area in the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk-Konstantinovka agglomeration—this is their principal fortified area …
Just recently, the Chief of the General Staff, the group commander, and local commanders, including the brigade commander who was in my office, reported the capture of Seversk … Meanwhile, a little further south, our units are also conducting active and successful operations in the southern Liman sector. Our troops are already inside the city of Krasny Liman, engaged in street fighting. I expect it to fall very shortly. We currently control roughly half the city, and the advance will press southward, towards Slavyansk.
Despite Putin’s determination to win at any cost and his willingness to wage war on civilian targets like apartment buildings, hospitals, and schools, Trump repeatedly tells us that Putin wants peace, making no distinction between the aggressor and defender.
Here’s how the Associated Press put it:
President Donald Trump said Sunday he believes both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin truly want peace … ‘The two leaders want it to end,’ Trump said at the outset of the meeting at Mar-a-Lago. Before Zelenskyy arrived, Trump spoke with Putin by phone for more than an hour, and planned to speak with him again soon after.
Greeting Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said of him: ‘This gentleman has worked very hard, and is very brave, and his people are very brave.’ Zelenskyy, by Trump’s side, said he’d discuss issues of territorial concessions with Trump, which have so far been a red line for his country. He said his negotiators and Trump’s ‘have discussed how to move step by step and bring peace closer’ and would continue to do so in the meeting.
Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s capital in the days before the meeting. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, said the Trump-Putin call was initiated by the U.S. side, lasted over an hour, and was ‘friendly, benevolent, and businesslike.’ Ushakov said Trump and Putin agreed to speak again ‘promptly’ after Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy. But Ushakov added that a ‘bold, responsible, political decision is needed from Kyiv’ on the fiercely contested Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and other matters in dispute for there to be a ‘complete cessation. of hostilities.’
The notion that both sides want peace, that both sides are equally responsible for the death and destruction in Ukraine is nonsense. That Donald Trump keeps repeating it is just more evidence that he has no real appreciation of Vladimir Putin’s monomaniacal drive to recapture the influence and territory once belonging to the Soviet empire. And, by no longer actively aiding Ukraine’s self-defense, Donald Trump is wittingly or unwittingly an accomplice to Russian aggression and war crimes.
The human costs of this decision are monumental. When I was studying literature at City College, I loved reading the work of Russian writers Isaac Babel and Alexander Pushkin and their stories set in Odesa. So, it was heartbreaking to read this story in The New York Times:
The toll on older people and those with disabilities is especially severe as Moscow’s forces repeatedly attack the port city’s infrastructure …
When she hears explosions, Tetiana Rybak does the only thing she can: She lies in her bed and waits. Ms. Rybak cannot walk, cannot go to the shelter. Recently, she asked a social worker to tape over the windows of her apartment with festive red gift wrap, old military posters and a version of the Lord’s Prayer.
That way, she no longer has to see the Russian drones flying past.
For the past two weeks, Russia has focused its military might on pounding her hometown, Odesa, the largest port in Ukraine, repeatedly hitting it with drones and missiles in the city’s worst shelling through almost four years of war. …
Ukrainians speculate that Moscow has been attacking Odesa, perched on the Black Sea, in retaliation for Ukraine’s recent attacks on the ‘shadow fleet’ that Russia uses to transport its oil and evade sanctions. While major Ukrainian cities commonly experience bursts of intense Russian bombardment followed by quieter periods, Odesa has been under nearly constant attack since the early morning hours of Dec. 12. Russia has mostly targeted the city’s ports and its power infrastructure. At least nine people have been killed.
With electricity, gas and water out for days at a time, residents resort to charging their phones and computers at government relief centers or grocery stores, and to cooking their meals on makeshift stoves outside. They put plastic bags of milk, eggs and sour cream on windowsills to keep them cold. …
Ever since Russian troops invaded in February 2022, Ukrainians have rallied. Their resilience has been so celebrated that it’s almost a cliché. Oleksii Kolodchuk, 83, said the power and heat outages were not a big deal for him. His biggest regret: He forgot to put his borscht outside in the cold, and it went sour well before it should have.
Ukraine, on the other hand, has made it a hallmark of their resistance to avoid civilian centers, while still hitting military targets: drone factories, warships, jet fighters, and the electrical infrastructure that powers the Russian military machine.
Ever since Donald Trump’s “perfect phone call” with Volodymr Zelenskyy, Trump has tried to use him, play him, bully him. Back in 2019, Donald Trump tried to leverage military aid, Javelin missiles, to a desperate Ukraine in return for Zelenskyy announcing an official investigation into Joe Biden—all to lend credence to the false narrative that Joe Biden and his son were corruptly involved in Ukrainian politics. In 2025, as he did in 2019, Zelenskyy is trying his best to flatter Donald Trump, cooperating without sacrificing his principles or Ukraine’s integrity. Unfortunately, Donald Trump cannot help but parrot the lies Vladimir Putin feeds him.
The UK Independent reported on what Donald Trump said about Zelenskyy and Ukraine during his February 19, 2025, press conference:
Donald Trump has caused fresh outrage by blaming Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky for the war with Russia. In remarks likely to send shockwaves around the world, the U.S. president pointed fingers at Kyiv for Moscow’s 2022 invasion and claimed Ukraine had ‘started the war.’ Earlier on Tuesday, Zelensky postponed his visit to Saudia Arabia – intended for Wednesday – until next month after it hosted the talks between Russia and the U.S. about ending the conflict in Ukraine … Zelensky once again condemned Kyiv and Europe’s exclusion from the negotiation table which appeared to trigger Trump. Speaking at an impromptu press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday, an agitated Trump said: ‘Today I heard, “Oh, we weren’t invited” [to Tuesday’s U.S.-Russia talks]. Well, you’ve been there for three years, you should have ended it three years. You should have never started it, you could have made a deal.’
In addition, Trump poured scorn on Zelensky’s approval ratings and challenged him to call an election stating ‘we have martial law in Ukraine … I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at a four percent approval rating,’ Trump said. ‘We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine.’
Zelenksy [sic], who remains in office after serving his five-year term with Ukraine under martial law, brushed off Trump’s snipe and defended his popularity. ‘I am the president of Ukraine because 73 percent of people voted for me,’ he told German public broadcaster ARD on Tuesday. ‘And today I’m president because the majority in my country support me. I’m a patriot, just like the people defending our country.’ …
Expanding on his remarks about Zelensky’s protest at being excluded from the discussions in Saudi Arabia, Trump said: ‘… I could have made a deal for Ukraine. That would have given them almost all of the land, everything, almost all of the land – and no people would have killed, and no city would have been demolished.’
[Emphasis added.]
Things between them only got worse the next week when Zelenskyy came to the White House. Trump decided to lecture Zelenskyy:
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance castigated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine for not being grateful enough for U.S. aid. ‘You’re gambling with World War III,’ Trump told Zelensky … In a fiery public confrontation unlike any seen between an American president and foreign leader in modern times, Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance … sought to strong-arm him into making a peace deal on whatever terms the Americans dictated.
With his voice raised and temper flaring, Mr. Trump threatened to abandon Ukraine altogether if Mr. Zelensky did not go along. After journalists left the Oval Office, Mr. Trump canceled the rest of the visit, including a planned joint news conference and signing ceremony for a deal on rare minerals, and U.S. officials told the Ukrainians to leave. A grim-faced Mr. Zelensky strode out, climbed into a waiting black sport utility vehicle and departed the White House grounds.
[Emphasis added.]
Like most authoritarians who love power, Donald Trump cannot help but betray his disrespect for others. Like all bullies, he imagines himself invincible. So, it is no surprise that he has far more in common with Vladimir Putin than with Volodymr Zelinskyy. And it is no surprise that he is continually enraged by Zelenskyy’s refusal to submit to Russia’s aggression and surrender the territory Putin covets, to sell out his country. Sooner or later, Donald Trump cannot help but reveal whose side he is really on:
Beyond the rhetoric of Moscow and the rantings of President Trump lies the geopolitical reality of Russian aggression. Anyone who has studied the consequences of our decade-plus-long war in Vietnam knows what the stubborn arrogance of our bipartisan pro-war politicians cost us. This was a necessary war against Communism, they told us, a war we would win. Those myths led to more than 60,000 dead and 150,000 wounded and the utter waste of hundreds of billions of dollars that could have been used for productive purposes.
Today, Russian young men are dying in similar numbers—Russia is now disappearing the records and burning the bodies of those who will never return. And, as Ukrainian drones every day bring the war home to them, crippling refineries and taking out the tankers of their shadow fleet, more and more Russians endure power shortages and lines at their gas stations.
As for Donald Trump, only someone without empathy would suggest that Zelinskyy does not want peace, a man who every day experiences the ravages of war, who visits the bombed-out buildings of his Ukrainian cities and villages, who travels to the front lines to encourage those in trenches, who speaks to those parents whose children have been stolen. Only someone who has never experienced the cruelty of Russian missile strikes, who will not acknowledge Putin’s murder of Navalny or his theft of billions would so recklessly impugn the motives of a man who continues to mobilize his nation to defend itself.
Days later, after their March meeting at the White House, Trump was furious that Zelenskyy would not submit to the Putin-Trump surrender:
Top Trump Cabinet secretaries and national security officials are holding meetings this week to discuss the administration’s next steps on Ukraine– including the prospect of suspending military aid – following the spectacular collapse of Friday’s Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky … Trump and top advisers continued to harshly criticize Zelensky for his demeanor and outlook on the war, refusing to rule out the notion he should resign.
‘I just think he should be more appreciative, because this country has stuck with them through thick and thin,’ Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room on Monday when asked what it would take to revive a rare earths mineral deal … Earlier, Trump slammed Zelensky’s remarks to reporters that the end to the war ‘is still very, very far away.’
Whenever I find myself rooting for Zelenskyy to tell Donald Trump or J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio or Jared Kushner to just shut the f*ck up, I recall my short training in non-violent civil disobedience. I remember the incredibly brave students who sat at the segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., and recall Freedom Rider James Peck who knew he was about to be beaten as the integrated bus he was on pulled into the Mississippi terminal. They always knew the odds were against them. Because the Klan, the racists, the segregationists had hatred in their hearts and wanted nothing more than to obliterate them. But they had discipline and dignity and righteousness on their side and eventually touched the conscience of the nation.
It is only because of Ukraine’s continuing need to bolster its ability to defend itself and take the war to Russia that Zelenskyy is time and again willing to absorb Trump’s contempt. He knows his job is to wrest some sort of American help, some American commitment to Ukrainian sovereignty.
But Zelenskyy is as human as any of us. And, yes, the never-ending inhumanity of Putin has certainly taken its toll on him. In his Christmas message to the people, he acknowledged his impatience for swift, irreversible justice, the momentary wish for a Judgment Day of sorts, a longing I am sure is shared by many in beleaguered Ukraine.
This momentary acknowledgment, as the UK Independent notes, was balanced by a realistic assessment of what they face and a heartfelt appreciation of the irrepressible spirit of his people:
In a video posted to X on Christmas Eve, Mr Zelensky said that ‘despite all the suffering that Russia has brought, it is not capable of occupying or bombing what matters most. That is our Ukrainian heart, our faith in one another, and our unity’.
Appearing to refer to Russian president Vladimir Putin, Mr Zelensky added: ‘Today, we all share one dream. And we make one wish – for all of us. “May he perish”, each of us may think to ourselves. But when we turn to God, of course, we ask for something greater, we ask for peace for Ukraine. We fight for it, we pray for it, we deserve it.’
His comments come after Russia hit regions across Ukraine with missiles and drones on Tuesday, killing at least three people, and triggering emergency power outages. Further attacks on Christmas night saw at least two people killed in drone strikes on Odesa and Kharkiv. Ukraine’s leader said in his address: ‘On the eve of Christmas, the Russians once again showed who they truly are. Massive shelling, hundreds of “shaheds”, ballistic missiles, Kinzhal strikes – everything was used. This is how the godless strike. For all our fallen heroes who defended Ukraine at the cost of their lives. For everyone whom Russia has driven into occupation and forced to flee. For those for whom it is hard, but who have not lost Ukraine within themselves – and therefore Ukraine will never lose them. Today we stand shoulder to shoulder. We will not lose our way in the darkness.’
For Americans, we only have to look to our north for an example of how to support and defend Ukrainian democracy. Zelenskyy wisely stopped in Halifax before heading south to Mar-a-Lago. There, as CBC tells us, he was greeted enthusiastically by Canadian Premier Mark Carney:
‘Under President Zelenskyy’s leadership, we have the conditions, the possibility of a just and lasting peace,’ Carney told reporters before he and Zelenskyy left for their bilateral meeting. The prime minister also announced an additional $2.5 billion of economic aid for Ukraine … ‘It is critical that we jointly and constructively bolster Ukraine’s ability to protect life, reinforce our front-line positions and enhance the effectiveness of the negotiation process. Right now, it is Russia that is dragging its feet and trying to waste time.’ … Carney commended Zelenskyy for his ‘continued efforts to secure a just and lasting peace for the people of Ukraine, and the courage of the Ukrainian people as they face another winter of Russian aggression.’ The prime minister affirmed Canada’s commitment to Ukraine throughout these negotiations and emphasized the need to maintain pressure on Russia to negotiate, the PMO said in a statement on Friday.
Which brings us back to Zelenskyy’s most recent meeting with President Trump and our failures to strongly and unambiguously stand with democracy and against terror. It took only minutes as Zelenskyy was flying home for the Russians to do what they do best: flood the world with propaganda and lies. What Trump refers to as the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax we know, as Robert Mueller proved to many a jury, was the Russian disinformation campaign to influence the election in Donald Trump’s favor. And so it is not surprising that they are doing everything they can to sanitize Russian war crimes by transforming Ukrainian self-defense into aggression. Without evidence of any sort, the Russians claimed Zelenskky had ordered a drone attack on one of Putin’s homes.
As The New York Times reported, the Russian’s immediately used it to justify an escalation of their invasion:
With talks on ending the Ukraine war making little progress on the toughest issues, Russia issued a dramatic threat on Monday to harden its stance, linking the potential change to what the Kremlin called a failed Ukrainian drone attack overnight targeting a rural residence of President Vladimir V. Putin.
Ukraine immediately denied any such attack, accusing the Kremlin of inventing a pretext to undermine the peace talks being orchestrated by the Trump administration. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who met with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Sunday to discuss a possible deal, called the Russian allegation a ‘complete fabrication.’
Although both Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky gave an upbeat assessment of their talks, no concrete progress was reported on the two thorniest issues — Russia’s demands that Ukraine cede significant territory in the country’s southeast, and security guarantees that would protect Ukraine against future Russian aggression.
Mr. Trump said that he heard about the alleged attack from Mr. Putin himself during a previously scheduled phone call early Monday to discuss the peace talks. ‘I was very angry about it,’ he told reporters at Mar-a-Lago, though he conceded that he had no independent confirmation that it had occurred. ‘It’s a delicate period of time,’ Mr. Trump said, noting that although both sides were on the offensive, ‘It’s another thing to attack his house.’ He suggested that he had blocked the sale of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine to prevent just this kind of attack.
In a statement from the Kremlin summarizing the call, Yuri Ushakov, Mr. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said that ‘Russia’s position regarding a number of previously reached agreements and emerging solutions will be revised’ in light of the attack. He added, ‘The Americans must treat this with understanding.’
[Emphasis added.]
Unfortunately, it took the CIA a few days to publicly deny the attack had ever taken place.
I will leave you with some of what President Zelenskky shared in his New Year’s message:
In just a few minutes, the new year will begin. And I would give anything in the world if, in this address, I could say that peace will also come in just a few minutes. Unfortunately, I cannot say that yet. But with a clear conscience, I – all of us – can say that Ukraine is truly doing everything for peace. And continues to do so.
I returned to Kyiv yesterday, at 6 a.m. Our team spent nearly 50 hours on the road. The peace agreement is 90 percent ready. Ten percent remains. And that is far more than just numbers. Those ten percent contain, in fact, everything. Those are the ten percent that will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live. Ten percent to save millions of lives. Ten percent of the determination needed for peace to work one hundred percent. Ten percent of the unity and wisdom so desperately needed – Ukrainian, American, European, from the entire world. Ten percent to peace.
I want all of us to be on the same page right now – to understand reality in the same way, to be armed not only on the battlefield, but also with the truth. The truth about who truly wants what. What does Ukraine want? What does America want? What does Russia want? What do Europe and the entire world want?
Let us begin with the most important thing. What does Ukraine want? Peace? Yes. At any cost? No. We want the end of the war – not the end of Ukraine. Are we tired? Extremely. Does that mean we are ready to surrender? Those who think so are deeply mistaken. And clearly, over all these years, they still have not understood who Ukrainians are. A people who have held on through 1,407 days of a full-scale war. Just take in that number. That is longer than the Nazi occupation of many of our cities during World War II. 1,407 days of an unconquered Ukraine. A country that, in effect, spends every night in shelters. Every day – in struggle. Often – without electricity. Often – without sleep, holding positions for many, many days. Yet always – without panic, without chaos, without division, in unity – so that we can have peace. Do we want the war to end? Absolutely.
Why has it not happened yet? The answer is right next door to our country. Can Russia end the war? Yes. Does it want to? No. Can the world force it to do so? Yes – and only that way will it work. Why does the world not do this to the full extent? Let us break it down. Step by step. Honestly. As it truly is. Our people know this better than anyone. Russia does not end its wars on its own. There has never been a war in history that they ended of their own free will. Only pressure from others – only coercion from others, which they themselves call a goodwill gesture.
This has been the case every year Russia has fought someone – that is, throughout its entire existence.
This can be confirmed by everyone against whom Moscow has waged war at different times. Poland, Türkiye, Finland, Syria, Georgia, Abkhazia, Ossetia, Chechnya – and the list can go on endlessly, because almost the entire territory of Russia was assembled through wars. This is who we are dealing with. We – Ukraine, Europe, the United States, and the entire world.
Withdraw from Donbas, and everything will be over. That is how deception sounds when translated from Russian – into Ukrainian, into English, into German, into French, and, in fact, into any language in the world. Does anyone still believe them? Unfortunately. Because too often, the truth is still avoided and called diplomacy, though in reality it is simply lies in suits.
That is why there is pressure on Ukraine – yes. That is why we keep fighting the way we do and proving what should have been obvious long ago: that after the occupation of Crimea, the seizure of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the full-scale invasion on February 24, after Bucha, Mariupol, Olenivka, and everything the Kremlin has been doing all along – taking them at their word is nothing less than a verdict. A verdict against shared international security. And against every leader whose duty is simply to protect their people.
Have our arguments been heard? We very much hope so. Have they agreed with us? Not fully. Not yet. That is precisely why, for now, we speak of 90 percent, not the full 100 percent, readiness of a peace agreement.
Intentions must become security guarantees. And therefore – be ratified. By the U.S. Congress, by European parliaments, by all partners. A Budapest-style piece of paper will not satisfy Ukraine. Ukraine does not need a Minsk-style meticulously drafted trap. Signatures under weak agreements only fuel war. My signature will be under a strong agreement. And that is exactly what every meeting, every call, every decision is about right now.
To secure a strong peace for everyone. Not for a day, not for a week, not for two months – peace for years. Only then will it truly be a success. For Ukraine, for America, for Europe – and, in truth, for every nation that wants to live, not to fight.
These words are far more relevant than most Americans realize. For years we have heard the rhetoric of war from our White House, unopposed by the Republican majority in Congress. We have heard the people of Greenland threatened with appropriation, the territorial integrity of Canada mocked and disparaged, the suggestion that the American military might intervene in Mexico.
Most recently, we have watched without mass protest as Donald Trump makes a mockery of international law and blows boats out of the water, as he bombs the sovereign nation of Venezuela. He tells us his war against Venezuela is part of our war against drugs, and yet he pardons one of the world’s worst drug dealers.
Like Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump wants to wage war, not provide peace. In this new year, it is time to tell the world loudly and clearly that we want peace for Ukraine. And we will fight against Trump’s war of choice with the same commitment with which Ukraine opposes Putin’s war.
Glory to Ukraine. Slava Ukraini.
