Do Ukrainians want a ceasefire almost 3 years into its war with Russia?
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The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Marco Rubio schools clueless mainstream media, major progress on Russia-Ukraine peace
The historic peace summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin took place this weekend in Alaska, with the two nations coming somewhat closer to achieving a lasting peace in Ukraine. Those who had hoped this meeting would result in an immediate end to the conflict were left disappointed; however, top U.S. diplomat and negotiator Steve Witkoff said that Putin had agreed Ukraine would receive a NATO-esque protection guarantee, which would protect Ukraine from further Russian aggression after the war. That's a key component of any peace agreement — Ukraine can't simply agree to lose some territory now if it remains the case that Russia will simply resume its attack later. On the Ukrainian front, it is unfortunately the case that President Volodymyr Zelensky will likely have to agree to territorial concessions in order to bring this conflict to an end. There's a dawning realization among even the most staunchly pro-Ukraine commentators that the war simply will not end unless Ukraine agrees to let Russia keep the conquered territories. The alternative is a drawn-out conflict that kills thousands more Ukrainians and results in the entire country coming under Russian control. The skillful diplomacy of Trump, of Witkoff, and of Secretary of State Marco Rubio is designed to avoid that outcome. Indeed, Rubio has done a terrific job this weekend of schooling the reflexively hawkish voices in the mainstream media who think any public display of respect toward Putin is somehow emboldening him and the Russian takeover of Ukraine. Media pundits complained endlessly about Putin receiving the red-carpet treatment, riding in a fancy car with Trump, and being treated with decency as befits his station as an important world leader. In fact, popular liberal X personality Brian Krassenstein basically called on the U.S. government to assassinate Putin as soon as he set foot in Alaska, which is quite obviously an insane idea. By comparison, the mainstream media was a bit more restrained, but they were still quite furious that Trump was being nice to Putin. Look, if being mean to Putin was going to work, then Joe Biden would have already succeeded at ending the war: He didn't, because diplomacy is a bit more complicated and subtle than just screaming 'Putin bad' at the top of your lungs over and over again. Rubio made this point expertly during his conversation with ABC's Martha Raddatz: 'Critics of President Trump are always going to find something to criticize, I don't even pay attention to it anymore, but I will tell you this: Putin is already on the world stage,' the secretary of State said. 'The guy's conducting a full-scale war in Ukraine, he's already on the world stage. He has the world's largest tactical nuclear arsenal, and the second largest strategic nuclear arsenal in the world. He's already on the world stage. When I hear people say it elevates him, well all we do is talk about Putin all the time. All the media has done is talk about Putin all the time for the last four, five years. That doesn't mean he's right about the war, that doesn't mean he's justified about the war, put all that aside. It means you're not gonna have a peace agreement, you're not gonna end a war between Russia and Ukraine without dealing with Putin. That's just common sense.' Rubio has it exactly right: We can't end this war by refusing to give Putin attention, or the spotlight, or whatever it was that Raddatz was complaining about there. Frankly, the argument she's making there sounds like she's eventually calling for deplatforming Putin, like she's saying he should be kicked off Twitter or something. We shouldn't be surprised to hear a mainstream media personality returning to this very familiar well, of course. Liberal and progressive media personalities love the idea of deplatforming people, because they have an almost religious faith in censorship and silencing. These are the preferred tactics of the mainstream media folks, who imagine that if they can't hear or see people and opinions they don't like, it must mean those sinister forces have been defeated. You would think they might have learned by now that this tactic usually backfires. And in any case, Putin is not an account that can be suspended, or an idea that can be banned, or a phenomenon that can be ignored: He's a political figure who must be engaged. And lest anyone think the meeting was nothing but pleasantries, President Trump gave Putin a letter from first lady Melania Trump a sking him to end the war for the sake of the children who are suffering because of it. 'Mr. Putin,' she wrote, 'you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter.' Let us all hope and pray that this meeting is followed by further diplomacy that ends this horrific conflict.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Why Handing Donbas to Putin Would Be So Difficult for Ukraine
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. For Kyiv, losing its eastern regions wouldn't just be a major social and political disaster. It would also be a military nightmare. After President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week, the Republican reportedly told European leaders he backed a Kremlin proposal that would mean Ukraine cedes its two eastern regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, while freezing the conflict elsewhere. Donetsk and Luhansk are collectively known as the Donbas. This presents huge problems for Kyiv. Ukraine has always said it will not let go of territory occupied by Russia—not to mention that it is bound by its constitution to not cede land. Ukrainian soldiers fire on Russian positions along the front line in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Monday, June 24, 2024. Ukrainian soldiers fire on Russian positions along the front line in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Monday, June 24, 2024. AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File "No one will deviate from this—and no one will be able to," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month. "Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier." Politically and socially, too, Zelensky's hands are tied, while on the military side, Donetsk is vital to Ukraine's defensive lines. What Is The Donbas? The Donbas is the term used to collectively describe Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in the very east of the country. They are country's industrial heartland, with a strong Russian-speaking history. The two regions were well-known for being home to Moscow-leaning groups. They are two of the regions, or oblasts, Moscow has claimed to have annexed. The Kremlin seized control of Crimea, the peninsula to the south of mainland Ukraine, back in 2014, and propped up separatist groups in Donetsk and Luhansk. In April 2014, Russian-backed militants proclaimed the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic as independent states. Russia covertly supported them with troops, tanks and artillery. Moscow then said it was annexing four Ukrainian regions in fall 2022, months after launching its full-scale invasion. Donetsk and Luhansk were among these regions, along with the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts. Much of the heaviest fighting of the war has been concentrated in Donetsk, not least around key Ukrainian cities Russia has been desperate to capture. Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Pokrovsk—these are all Donetsk settlements that quickly became synonymous with high casualty counts and months of drawn-out, bitter battles between defending Ukrainian troops and waves of Russian soldiers. Overall, Russia controls roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory. Moscow controls small chunks of territory along the Russian border with Ukraine's Sumy and Kharkiv regions, while also pushing from Luhansk west into Kharkiv. The Kremlin has also seized very small areas of the southern Mykolaiv region and of Dnipropetrovsk, which borders Donetsk. How Much of the Donbas Does Russia Control? A Russian-appointed official claimed at the start of July that Russia had captured all of Luhansk, but Western assessments say Ukraine still controls a sliver of the region. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank that tracks the daily changes to the front lines in the conflict, said earlier this month Ukraine still controls roughly 6,500 square kilometers of territory in Donetsk—equivalent to a quarter of the region. "Seizing the remainder of Donetsk Oblast will very likely take Russian forces multiple years to complete after several difficult campaigns," the ISW said in a fresh update published on Sunday. Trump told Zelensky after the Republican met Putin in Alaska on Friday that the Kremlin chief had told him that Russia could capture all of Donetsk if it tried, Axios reported. "Putin's claim that Russian forces will inevitably seize all of Donetsk Oblast if the war continues is false," the ISW said on Sunday. "The Russian campaign to seize all of Donetsk Oblast has been ongoing since Russia's first invasion in 2014 and remains incomplete." Russia controls about three quarters of both the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, according to the ISW. Why Is The Donbas So Important? For Ukraine, it is a part of their country—a limb of the nation that Ukrainians have died for. It would be a "tragedy" for Russia to end up with control of the two regions, Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Hrytsak told the BBC. "Ukrainian people live there, under bombardment and threat to their lives, and to leave them is to betray them," Oleg Dunda, a Ukrainian parliamentarian with Zelensky's Servant of the People party, told Newsweek. To cede the territories to Russia, he continued, could run the risk of the military rebelling in Ukraine and the damage spreading out in broader Ukrainian society. The swathes of territory Ukraine still controls in Donetsk include several settlements that have been dubbed "fortress cities," which have been key for linking up Ukraine's defenses and blocking Russia from advancing further westward for more than a decade. Cities like Kostiantynivka, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Sloviansk are all linked and vastly important for coordinating Ukrainian forces and logistics. "Ukraine has spent the last 11 years pouring time, money, and effort into reinforcing the fortress belt and establishing significant defense industrial and defensive infrastructure in and around these cities," the ISW has said. The west of the Donetsk Oblast is "bulwark" for Ukraine to shield its other regions, Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign affairs committee, previously told Newsweek. The defensive line joining up these "fortress" cities "was never taken," Dunda said. Surrendering the fortifications Ukraine has spent so long constructing "opens the way for Moscow to central Ukraine," he added. "A withdrawal from the remaining parts of the Donbas—especially the 'fortress belt' in Donetsk would certainly make Ukraine more vulnerable," said Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the U.K.-based think tank, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). If Russia gained control of all of Donetsk in a U.S.-brokered deal, Ukrainian forces would need to quickly build up massive defenses on the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk borders, the ISW said. These areas are not well suited to becoming defensive lines, and Ukraine would need "enormous, urgent investment from its Western allies" to get new defenses against Russia in place, the think tank has assessed. Ukraine would also be withdrawing from slightly higher ground, leaving Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk "both more open," Savill told Newsweek. For Russia, gaining control of the Donbas has always been a core goal. Moscow sees the region in particular as part of its historical sphere of influence, and has drawn on history to justify its annexation of the two regions. "Moscow is using a narrative of cultural and linguistic affinity to justify intervention and portray itself as a protector of the Russian-speaking population," said Natia Seskuria, an associate fellow at RUSI. "Although the Donbas region is predominantly Russian-speaking, that does not make it pro-Russian." Not lost to either Moscow or Kyiv is how rich the Donbas is in resources, not least for steel production and coal mining, as well as minerals. It was the largest coal producer across the Soviet Union until the 1960s, according to the World Bank, and in the decades after, the Donbas "continued to play a major role in Ukraine's economic output, employment, and exports." In 2013, the Donbas was responsible for more than a quarter of all the goods exported abroad by Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine's former defense minister, wrote while serving as deputy prime minister for reintegrating occupied Ukrainian areas back in 2020. Crimea, Military Dominance and Historical Narratives Ahead of the meeting with Zelensky, Trump said that it was up to Ukraine to agree to a peace deal, but that Ukraine regaining Crimea was off the table. The more than 11 years the peninsula has spent under Moscow's control has seen Crimea become the base for Russia's Black Sea naval fleet—a force heavily targeted by Ukraine—and host to several major airfields and air defense sites. "Crimea matters profoundly to both Ukraine and Russia because it combines deep historical symbolism with immense strategic value," Seskuria told Newsweek. For Russia, it's needed to project power out into the wider Black Sea and beyond, including to the Mediterranean and the Middle East, Seskuria said. "Without it, Russia would struggle to maintain its maritime dominance, making control of Crimea essential for Putin's vision of accomplishing Russia's imperial ambitions," Seskuria added. Losing the peninsula in 2014 was a "direct challenge" to Ukraine's national identity, as well as its sovereignty, Seskuria said. "The loss of Crimea not only weakened Kyiv's maritime position but also gave Russia a forward base to launch its 2022 full-scale invasion, allowing rapid advances in southern Ukraine," she said.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Marco Rubio Admits Trump Utterly Failed at Negotiating With Putin
You've heard of 'concepts of a plan,' now get ready for 'concepts' of a concession. Secretary of State Marco Rubio faltered Sunday during an interview on CBS News's Face The Nation when asked whether Donald Trump had won anything during last week's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'We're looking at Russian troops and strikes intensifying. Did you hear anything from Vladimir Putin that indicated he is willing to make a single concession?' host Margaret Brennan asked. 'Well, I think there are a couple—I mean, there were not enough for Ukraine, if not we would be announcing a peace deal this morning—but certainly there are some things we noticed, changes,' Rubio replied. 'There are some changes that I think are possible. I think there's some concepts discussed that could potentially lead to something.' Here, Rubio does exceptional work demonstrating that adding a bunch of words to an answer doesn't make it not 'no.' The secretary explained that there was a difference between what a leader promises versus what they deliver. Now, who does that remind you of? 'It isn't real until it's real,' Rubio added. If the secretary's statements are anything to go by, it seems that Trump wasn't able to secure anything from Putin—but he did cave to some of the Russian president's major demands. Ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other European leaders Monday, Trump claimed that Ukraine could end the invasion today for the small, small price of Crimea and the country's long-awaited NATO membership.
