By Janet Ekstract, ISTANBUL -Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive push for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, the reality, as analysts point out, is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has set his sights on conquering Ukraine at all costs. On Tuesday, December 3, Putin met Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin who had initially been optimistic about achieving a peace agreement between the two countries. The original 28-point peace proposal, according to sources, was pared down to a 19-point framework that was more inclusive to Ukraine than the original one that many viewed as favoring Russia. European leaders as well as top Ukrainian officials were not pleased with the initial proposal that virtually handed Ukrainian territory to Russia with no security guarantees for Ukraine – a non-negotiable.
Meanwhile, top Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told the media that “so far, we haven’t found a compromise, but some American solutions can be discussed.” He added: “Some proposed formulations do not fit us, and work will continue.” During a meeting at the White House, Trump referred to the negotiations as “Not an easy situation, let me tell you. What a mess.” Though U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on December 3 that there was “some progress,” the Trump administration is well aware that Putin could renege at any moment. Ukraine’s President Zelensky reiterated that any peace agreement must end the war completely and must guarantee Ukraine’s sovereignty which Russia is hard-pressed to agree to. As Zelensky said: “What matters is that everything is fair and transparent. That there are no games played behind Ukraine’s back. That nothing is decided without Ukraine – about us, about our future.”
The Moscow meeting was five-hours in total and Ushakov said the initial U.S. plan had been separated into four parts which were discussed at the Kremlin. Ushakov said there were “some points” the Russian side could agree on but that Putin was quite vocal in his opposition to a number of other proposals within the plan. Despite no agreement yet in sight, EU leadership is moving ahead with plans to use frozen Russian cash balances to assist in financing Ukraine’s military needs though Belgium opposes it. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Since pressure is the only language the Kremlin responds to, we dial it up.” Von der Leyen said the EU is proposing to cover two-thirds of Ukraine’s financing needs for the next two years to the tune of 90 billion euros with the remainder to be covered by international partners.
