After rejecting a plan that would see Ukraine concede territory to Russia its leadership has come under new pressure.
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine plan, leaked by former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg, was an attempt to shut the war down – at least for now. The European dimwits, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Ukrainian ruler managed to sabotage it:
One camp, including Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and other officials, views Ukraine as the primary obstacle to peace and favors using U.S. leverage to force Kyiv to make major compromises, according to multiple current and former officials.
The other camp, represented by Rubio and other officials, sees Russia as the culprit for having launched an unprovoked invasion of its neighbor and says Moscow will relent only if it pays a price for its aggression through sanctions and other pressure.
With his deputies vying for his attention along with Republican lawmakers and European leaders, President Donald Trump has veered back and forth on how to resolve the conflict.
While the 28-point plan included several points Russia could not agree to (like a 600,000 strong Ukrainian army), it also included significant concession Ukraine would have to make. It could have been the base for further discussions with Russia. But Rubio allowed the Ukrainians to shrink the plan down to 19 points by taking out any Ukrainian concessions while adding erroneous demands (a 800,000 strong Ukrainian army) which are unacceptable to Russia.
Trump is, as usual, behaving like a weathervane unable or unwilling to force his will on the opponents of his plan.
The Ukrainian army is collapsing. Pokrovsk had been enveloped and occupied a week ago. But Zelenski and others kept claimed that the Ukrainian was winning that battle. As the army breaks down and its soldiers flee from their positions (in Russian) other cities, like Huleipole and Siversk, will soon fall too.
There is no way for Ukraine to win the war. The longer the war takes the more will be lost for Ukraine.
The utter delusion behind the rejection of Trump’s 28 point plan was demonstrated by the European High Representative for Foreign Affairs Katja Kallas:
“We still need to get from a situation where Russia pretends to negotiate to a situation where they need to negotiate”
Sure. And how are going to get there? After 19 rounds of EU sanction on Russia the 20th package will certainly take care of it?
During the latest round of negotiations the acting president of Ukraine Vladimir Zelenski had named the chief of his office Andrei Yermak and the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Rustem Umerov as negotiators.
This was widely seen as an attempt to protect both persons from prosecution for their involvement in a recent case of large scale corruption.
Yermak admitted as much when he called up Simon Shuster at The Atlantic to put an end to the current round of negotiations:
Volodymyr Zelensky, in the next phase of talks to end the war in Ukraine, intends to draw a red line at the most contentious issue on the table: the Russian demand for Ukraine’s sovereign territory. As long as he remains the nation’s president, Zelensky will not agree to give up land in exchange for peace, Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Andriy Yermak, told me today in an exclusive interview.
“Not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory,” said Yermak, who has served as Zelensky’s chief of staff, lead negotiator, and closest aide throughout the full-scale war with Russia.
“As long as Zelensky is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory,” he told me by telephone from Kyiv. “The constitution prohibits this. Nobody can do that unless they want to go against the Ukrainian constitution and the Ukrainian people.”
Russia will ignore such nonsense and take by force whatever territory it thinks it needs. Further down Yermak explains to Shuster why he was tasked with negotiations:
In our interview, Yermak responded at length for the first time to the investigation and the resulting calls for him to step aside. “The pressure is enormous,” he told me. “The case is fairly loud, and there needs to be an objective and independent investigation without political influence.”
By appointing him to lead Ukraine’s negotiating team despite the scandal, Zelensky made clear to the people of Ukraine that Yermak continues to enjoy his trust, he said. The people of Ukraine “see that I have been beside the president all these years during all the most difficult, tragic, and dangerous moments,” Yermak said. “He trusted me with these negotiations that will decide the fate of our country. And if people support the president, that should answer all their questions.”
Ukraine has now officially rejected the core element – land for peace – of Trump’s plan. The U.S. immediately responded to this open defiance. Today, by using its control over the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and various ‘nationalist’ and fascist media in Ukraine, it hit back at Yermak:
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) are conducting searches at the office of Andrii Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, in the government district on the morning of 28 November.
Source: Ukrainska Pravda journalist at the scene
Details: Ukrainska Pravda journalists managed to record around 10 employees from NABU and SAPO entering the government district.
The independent Ukrainian outlet Strana summarizes the political background of this action (machine translation):
Observers drew attention to the fact that the searches began just before the visit of US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, a representative of Donald Trump, to Kiev. According to a popular version, he should put pressure on the Ukrainian authorities to agree to concessions under the Trump peace plan, including with regard to the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donbass.
And just yesterday, Yermak solemnly proclaimed that as long as Vladimir Zelensky is president, Ukraine will not make territorial concessions.
Therefore, many people in political circles associate the searches of Yermak’s apartment with these events. That is, according to this version, Washington, with the help of NABU, makes it clear to Zelensky that the situation is serious and it’s time to adjust the position on the peace plan.
According to another version, the searches are connected with the long-running line of the “anti-Green coalition” to deprive the president of real power and turn him into the “queen of England” by losing control of the parliamentary majority and the government. One of the central elements of this plan is the dismissal of Yermak, which Zelensky has so far refused to do. But now, apparently, they decided to present him with new arguments in favor of such a step.
I seriously doubt the second explanation though this is not a neither nor situation. NABU is unlikely to act on anything without having a green light from the U.S. ambassador in Kiev.
Zelenski and Yermak will certainly hit back at NABU. A few month ago they had already tried to neuter it but had to retreat under pressure from Washington and Europe. They can use security services under their control -Ukraine’s FBI equivalent SBU – to arrest and indict NABU official.
The race is on.
Who will be the first to be arrested: Andrei Yermak or the chief investigators of NABU?