Trump Pauses Military Aid to Ukraine; UPDATE: ZELENSKYY APPEARS TO CAVE

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Donald Trump has suspended military aid to Ukraine until the country shows that it is committed to peace. 

Well that escalated quickly. 

It didn't have to be this way, although a lot of America First proponents will be glad that it did since the whole point of the minerals deal was to provide not just compensation for our aid but to give the US a financial stake in the country, pushing Putin to refrain from further aggression and taking of Ukrainian territory. 

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This was the greatest own-goal in diplomatic history, escalating tensions, encouraging Putin to push further, and weakening the position of Ukraine and the EU in their fight against Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy could have been ten steps closer to peace, but he is convinced that time is on Ukraine's side and that Putin's will will crumble. 

Good luck with that. 

The transnational elite, despite what they normally say, are fans of the forever war for entirely cynical reasons. That isn't a conspiracy theory; Eric Swalwell said it loud and proud on TV.

Forget the ancillary money laundering--which is at least as important as--what Swalwell is saying here is something I have alluded to in posts a few months back: Biden viewed the stalemate in the war that he helped engineer through providing just enough aid to maintain the current battle lines and restricting Ukrainian tactics to ensure no substantial gains by Ukraine as a way to weaken Russia militarily by using Ukraine as a proxy. 

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That is Swalwell's boast. Killing Ukrainians and Russians is a great investment. The Europeans are fully on board with this strategy. Until Trump forced them to put their money where their mouth is they were claiming they were doing all they could. Now Ursula von der Leyen and Kier Starmer are pledging to up their aid to fill the US gap. 

Ensuring, again, a stalemate and forever war. 

Trump is having none of it. He wants the war over, economic relations to return to normal, and the killing to stop. 

As I wrote yesterday, Europe is underwriting both sides of the war, shipping arms and modest aid to Ukraine, while buying Russian oil to the tune of more money than they provide Ukraine in aid. They are literally funding both sides of the conflict. 

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Trump warned during his first term that Germany and Europe were too reliant on Russian oil and that it would bite them in the butt, but the Germans literally laughed at them. Well, they and their European allies are now helping fund Putin's war, and Germany may be set to increase their natural gas purchases from Russia because their economy is getting hammered. 

Zelenskyy has staked out his position, which is that he wants total victory. While that sounds nice and all, there is no conceivable way that he can get it. Ukraine, however many weapons it gets, cannot sustain its battlefield losses. It will run out of men and at best be left with the same territory it now has; at worst, it could lose it all. And in either case there will be hundreds of thousands more casualties. 

Europe's "unity" on this issue is fracturing as well. As Kier Starmer and the EU make bellicose noises, the less globalist leaders are threatening to bail out. Georgia Meloni, who has been a big Ukraine supporter, is nixing the idea of Italian troops. 

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The battle lines within the Western alliance are becoming clear. Either you support forever war and potentially World War III or you want to get the war over as soon as possible. 

I'd love to see Putin lose power and lose the war, but that obviously isn't happening. And when faced with two bad choices, I vote for the one that saves lives. 

UPDATE: Zelenskyy has suddenly become conciliatory:

This is exactly what Trump meant to accomplish cutting off aid. 

I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace. 

None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.

We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and 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. Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal.

We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this.

Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.

Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | March 03, 2025
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