Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and French President Emmanuel Macron at the London security summit, March 2, 2025 (Justin Tallis/AFP)
EA on Dublin NewsTalk and WION: The Trump-Kremlin Plan for Ukraine’s Capitulation
Ukraine War, Day 1,369: Kyiv-Europe Counter-Proposal to Trump-Kremlin Ultimatum
UPDATE 1441 GMT:
I also spoke with India’s Firstpost about the shift in the political situation, as Europe and Ukraine try to regain the initiative and put the priority on a ceasefire along the frontlines.
I explain why Kyiv could accept a deal on this basis, but why Vladimir Putin is unlikely to do so.
We are now almost four years into an invasion in which Putin wanted to break Ukraine, to split Ukraine and install his own puppet government in Kyiv.
Will he pull back on that ultimate goal, his legacy, and accept a ceasefire?
I think Putin will not stop for the moment.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: I joined Poland’s TVP World on Monday to analyze how Europe and Ukraine, with the help of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, countered the Trump-Kremlin ultimatum for Kyiv’s capitulation.
I detail the European counter-proposal from Sunday’s talks in Geneva, seizing the political and diplomatic initiative. I set out its key differences from the Trump-Kremlin ultimatum, beginning with the starting point of a ceasefire along the current frontlines.
I explain how Ukraine and Europe took advantage of a split within the Trump Administration, with Rubio undercutting the ultimatum developed by real estate developer Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner with Vladimir Putin’s senior economic advisor Kirill Dmitriev.
And I look forward: given that Putin is unlikely to accept the ceasefire but will continue his ground and air assault, including on Ukraine’s civilians, can Kyiv and Europe maintain some level of American support?
