David Vance SubstackRead More
Going into the White House and demanding security guarantees was a fatal mistake for Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to make and he found this out this morning.
Donald Trump stunned NATO allies as he ended all US military aid to Ukraine late on Monday in an effort to pile pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war on his terms.
‘The President has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,’ a White House official said.
This is the context which the media will try to avoid.
Whilst the UK, France and the European countries can posture and blowhard, it is the US military aid that matters and in this bold move, President Trump has just outplayed Starmer and the rest of the EU snakes.
To put it simply, no US military aid means no ability to continue this forever war.
Of course Ukraine instantly moves into denial mode.
A former Ukrainian deputy defence minister has insisted that Europe can fill the gap in military aid left by the US. Volodymyr Harvylov, who served in the role between 2022 and 2023, says Europe is “on the rise” and can supply Ukraine with “arms and most of the everyday needs”. “Europe will be capable to support Ukraine instead of US,” he tells Radio 4’s Today programme.
This is denial on a cosmic level.
The Europeans lack the finance, the actual physical equipment at scale and the sophisticated security surveillance expertise that the US provides. There is also the real time consequence such as HOW LONG it might take for Europe to even try to fill the void.
In short, Trump just moved Zelenky into checkmate.
The way forward is for Zelensky to apologise for his disrespect shown in the Oval Office, to gratefully sign the Minerals deal, to accept that parts of Ukraine are lost to Russia and that it will be Europe, not the USA, which gives him “security guarantees”.
Trump can see that the greatest obstacle to PEACE and the ending of the killing is Zelensky. I forecast his days as President in Ukraine are limited.
Naturally, the mainstream media has had a hissy fit at the decisive decision by Trump but time will prove that this is what is needed if the killing is to be brought to a conclusive end!
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