It has been a week of bad decisions based more on emotion than a deliberate decision-making process by President Donald Trump and his team of National Security Advisors.
Vice President JD Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have taken the President down an unprecedented path of foreign policy. Add the jury cheering them on – Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) – and you complete the heptagon of misfortune for Ukraine.
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It began on Friday with the Oval Office’s version of Tombstone’s O.K. Corral. Tempers flared and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was escorted out of the White House – along with a rare earth minerals (REM) deal worth $1 trillion.
Lost was a $500 billion share of the pie Trump said he was “trying to get back,” referring to aid provided to Ukraine under the Biden Administration. Zelensky pocketed the deal and boarded a plane to London on Saturday to participate in an emergency European summit.
Zelensky was joined by leaders from the United Kingdom, Ukraine, France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Romania, as well as the Turkish Foreign Minister. At its conclusion, the principals announced a “Securing Our Future” initiative.
‘We Are Not Alone’ – Zelensky Thanks Europe as Security Summit Begins
Team Trump took a calculated risk having a REM deal signing meeting while knowing Zelensky had not yet agreed to the terms. The Ukrainian President sought security guarantees the US had no intention of providing. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said as much to Laura Ingram on Fox News. Zelensky had already twice refused to sign the REM deal with the US before he arrived at the White House. They simply expected – as Waltz and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said – Zelensky to sign the deal.
They were wrong. Ukraine First trumped America First.
In addition to escorting Zelensky out of the White House, the President announced on Tuesday that he was pausing military aid to Kyiv. The decision suspends any further drawdown from the $3.85 billion of military aid approved by Congress under the Biden Administration. It also stops deliveries of military equipment already approved as well.
What should have been business, quickly became personal. The President, along with his heptagonal entourage, felt disrespected. The President told Zelensky: “You gotta be more thankful.” Vance added: “Have you said thank you once this entire meeting?”
In fact, he said thank you at the beginning of the meeting and 33 times previously, according to CNN.
When you add his message to the American public on X as he was traveling back to Europe, that makes 34.
According to UNITED24, Zelensky has publicly expressed gratitude to the US 94 times since the start of the Russian invasion.
The White House’s Godfather wanted his own thank you for services yet to be rendered. This is the same Trump who called Zelensky a “dictator” just a few days prior.
The White House narrative quickly turned on Zelensky – challenging his desire for peace and willingness to bring an end to the war. Waltz commented: “It’s not clear that Zelensky truly wants to stop the fighting.” Rubio added: “You start to perceive that maybe Zelensky doesn’t want a peace deal.”
But let’s be frank, the White House REM deal they tried to pressure Zelensky into signing provided neither peace nor an end to the war. It has always been about “getting back my money.” The assumption – and a high-risk one – is that Russia will respect the US investment in Ukraine, which they call an “economic security guarantee.”
Now, let’s be real. Russia is still attacking Ukraine.
The REM deal will not stop the ballistic missiles and drones from impacting residential neighborhoods, hospitals, markets, churches, schools, bomb shelters, or Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure. It does not provide accountability for war crimes, for the return of Ukrainian children kidnapped and taken to Russia or for the Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians tortured and killed at the hands of their captors.
It will not require Russia to rebuild Ukraine, and it will not stop the human wave “meat assaults” that take place daily in the Donbas.
On March 5, a reported 1,250 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded. That number has been consistent for months now; 880,660 total since February 2022. Many of the soldiers participating in those assaults were previously wounded and disabled and forced back to the front lines.
The flow of Russian soldiers into Ukraine, and weapons and ammunition from North Korea and Iran, will not be impeded by the economic security guarantee either. Ukraine is defending their country. Russia is the aggressor.
That is what Zelensky stood his ground for – three years of sustained combat operations. They are exhausted, but not ready to submit to the Russian bear. That seems to be lost on the Trump Administration. Pausing military aid and intelligence-sharing to Ukraine now will only enable and embolden Putin to continue his assaults with more lethality.
On Tuesday, Zelensky swallowed his pride and reached out to the White House, issuing a statement that outlined Ukraine’s proposal to work towards a ceasefire with Russia and signaled his openness to sign the REM deal. He described what transpired in the Oval Office as “regrettable” and that, “It is time to make things right.”
His proposal for peace begins with “the release of prisoners and a truce in the sky – ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure – and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same.”
And therein lies the rub – Russia’s unwillingness to do the same.
Trump cited the letter in his speech to the Joint Session of Congress later that evening. He added the US has had “serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals they are ready for peace.”
That is yet to be seen. As we pointed out in Kyiv Post on Feb. 22, after Rubio’s meeting with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Russia has conceded nothing, only issued additional conditions.
On Feb. 26, Lavrov reiterated the Kremlin’s position there would be “no cessation of hostilities along the contact line in Ukraine” or European peacekeepers deployed to Ukraine. Territorial concessions were not mentioned, but they are unlikely as well, unless it is Ukraine returning the Kursk Oblast.
Until the US asserts the same type of pressure they apply to Ukraine onto Russia, Moscow’s rhetoric and attacks will continue. The Kremlin has proven they are not interested in a peace that involves Ukraine remaining a country or a distinct culture.
Echoing Russian demands for Ukrainian elections (also known as regime change), ceasing offensive cyber activities against Russia, and turning off the intelligence-sharing with Kyiv are not ‘serious discussions.’ Team Trump is yielding to Russia demands to get a deal done – and that is not the American way.
A better course of action would be the response Gen. David Petraeus provided to Jay Sapsford when asked: “What will it take to secure Ukraine?” Petraeus said: “Put Ukraine in a position of strength relative to Russia… enable Ukraine so much that they are able to change the dynamics on the battlefield so that Putin cannot achieve additional gains at acceptable cost.”
Petraeus continued: “That would require additional support, funding, security assistance from Europe and the US… and ideally would include the bulk of the $300 billion in frozen assets that Russia has in European banks that could be seized and given to Ukraine.”
Bottom line: Russia will likely have to be brought bloodied and screaming to the negotiation table. And that would require a kinetic response similar to what we laid out in Kyiv Post: interdiction, no-fly zone, deep strikes.
We are at a crossroads. Ukraine’s sovereignty is on the line, as is trust in American leadership and European resolve to secure their continent – a trifecta of will to stand up against Russian aggression.
Copyright 2025. Jonathan E. Sweet and Mark C. Toth. All rights reserved.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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