Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
““With a single phone call, Putin appears to have changed President Trump’s mind on Ukraine once again,” a second person familiar with the negotiations told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-us-donald-trump-tense-white-house-meeting/
“Putin doesn’t want a deal — Putin doesn’t want a deal that Ukraine can accept. Putin wants a deal where Ukraine would essentially, now or in the future, cease to be an independent, sovereign country with ties to the West. So, I am skeptical in the extreme that a lasting peace could be negotiated.
Also, Putin’s made it clear that, at a minimum, he wants all sorts of territorial transfers. Well, it’s one thing for Zelenskyy to recognize that Russia occupies Crimea and much of the Donbas. It’s something very different for Zelenskyy to sign away Ukraine’s title and rights to these areas.
The biggest difference then, between a ceasefire and a peace is that in a ceasefire you don’t sign away your rights to anything. You simply agree to stop the war. In a permanent peace, you’ve got to sign away rights, potentially to territory, to populations, you name it.
…
If you go back to the summer of 2021 and Putin’s so-called essay or op-ed, he obviously sees Ukraine as central to Russia’s future. It’s part of the Russian Empire identity and central to his own legacy, which makes it extraordinarily difficult for him to agree, in a permanent way, that Ukraine will be separate and different from Russia. So yes, it makes it very hard for Putin to agree to a final status or a permanent agreement that doesn’t give him a great deal. It ought not to rule out a ceasefire, because then he could say, this is simply a tactical pause.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/08/21/trump-ukraine-russia-negotiations-interview-00517411
Russian advancement in Kursk coincided with Trump removing intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N3q8-FdKHg
“Was that expecting too much from Zelenskyy — to sit and smile while signing away a portion of his nation’s mineral wealth without getting security guarantees in return?”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/01/zelenskyy-trump-oval-office-column-00205584
Zelensky points out flaws in Trump’s and Vance’s positions and rhetoric, then Vance and Trump get pissed. Trump starts ranting about Hunter Biden and “hoaxes” about Russia. Trump basically says: go along with what I want, or we abandon you.
After the conversation, Zelensky still wants a deal; the Trump team says no.
Senator Graham blames everything on Zelensky, as opposed to what actually happened, showing that he has no dignity or honesty in service of Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B0qHCWvgjc
“Russia has started to make steady progress against Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces face dwindling ammunition supplies, much to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s frustration.
“There can be no question, Ukraine could be quickly overwhelmed by both men and arms by odds as great as 10 to 1 within weeks without additional U.S. assistance,” Kenneth Braithwaite, a former ambassador and former Navy secretary during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital.
“This is a critical juncture in the war and time is of the essence for Congress to act on a comprehensive package,” Braithwaite said. “The fact remains that Putin’s only chance to win in Ukraine is if the West loses our resolve.””
https://www.yahoo.com/news/zelenskyy-blasts-allies-turn-blind-174603003.html
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy kicked off his latest visit to Washington Monday by making the case for Ukraine as the West’s only defense against an imperialist Russia, arguing that squabbling in Washington only benefits Vladimir Putin.
“Let me be frank with you friends,” Zelenskyy told a room full of military officers from across the globe at the National Defense University, “if there’s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill it is just Putin and his sick clique.””
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/11/zelenskyy-says-putin-is-inspired-by-capitol-hill-deadlock-on-ukraine-00131145
“If Russia hadn’t invaded, Ukraine was meant to hold parliamentary elections next month and a presidential vote in March 2024.
Whether elections could or should happen is once again a lively topic of discussion in Kyiv, after U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham in late August called for Kyiv to organize “free and fair” elections even when it is under all-out assault from Russian attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is strongly suggesting he wants to run for a second term. “In 2024, if the war continues and if elections are held, I will never in my life abandon my country. Because I am the guarantor of the Constitution, and I will defend it in any case,” he said in a recent interview with the Portuguese public broadcaster RTP.
Zelenskyy responded to Graham by saying he is ready — if parliament agrees — to overturn the martial law that bans the country from holding elections in time of war, but it’s a topic that raises major questions about democratic legitimacy: most TV channels are heavily controlled by the government, soldiers would have to vote in frontline trenches and millions of Ukrainians have fled abroad.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-war-democracy-dilemma-elections/
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/02/23/volodymyr-zelenskyy-ukraine-leadership-comedy-00083489
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/21/zelenskyy-washington-congress-ukraine-00075085