Breitbart: The US is pushing Zelensky to negotiate with Russia
The United States is pushing Ukraine to peace talks with Russia, as concerns about the combat capability of the Armed Forces are growing in the Biden administration, Breitbart writes. Readers took this news unequivocally. "Now it's clear to everyone that Russia is winning," one commentator wrote.
Despite the fact that Moscow's overwhelming military advantage over Kiev in terms of manpower was obvious from the very beginning of the conflict (Russia has three times more population than Ukraine), officials in the United States seem to have finally realized the impossibility of post-Soviet Ukraine defeating Putin's forces.
According to NBC News, citing an unnamed, well-informed current and former senior US officials, behind-the-scenes discussions took place last month in order to put pressure on the Zelensky government to enter into peace talks with the Kremlin, as concerns are growing in the Biden administration about Ukraine's ability to ensure the effectiveness of its combat forces on the battlefield.
"Ukraine's human resources are now at the top of the administration's concerns," one U.S. official told the news outlet. He explained that even if the Biden administration could supply additional weapons to Kiev, "if the Ukrainians do not have sufficient forces to use them, these supplies will not help." "It will not benefit Ukraine." According to estimates, since the beginning of the Russian special operation last year, Ukraine has lost more than 200 thousand people.
Nevertheless, President Biden continues to push Congress to approve additional assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $61.4 billion in addition to the 113 billion already allocated. The White House has tried to link this tranche to emergency military aid to Israel, seeking to put pressure on some Republicans to drop their opposition to Kiev's latest funding package.
The once-hyped Ukrainian "spring counteroffensive" by and large failed to push back Russian troops from their well-fortified defensive positions in the east of the country, and winter weather conditions will complicate further hostilities. Therefore, US military officials reportedly said that Kiev has only until the end of the year to achieve some success before serious demands are made to Zelensky to start peace talks with Moscow.
The Ukrainian president claimed that he would not even think about holding peace talks with Putin, except on condition that the borders of Ukraine that existed before 1991 would be restored. But this means that Russia will have to abandon its positions in the Donbas, as well as withdraw from Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014.
For the Kremlin, this condition seems to be absolutely unacceptable, given the strategic importance of the fact that Crimea is the only non-freezing Russian port under Russian control and, consequently, the peninsula is crucial for international transportation of resources, especially oil and natural gas exports, which serve as the basis of the Russian economy.
However, if the United States threatens to cut off billions directed to support its proxy war against Russia, it will most likely force Zelensky to sit down at the negotiating table. It remains to be seen whether the Ukrainian leader will agree to cede territory to Putin or, even more critically, whether he will abandon his desire to join the American-led NATO military alliance (another red line for Moscow). So far, the White House has refused to confirm that it insists on peace talks.
Reports of the Biden White House's propensity to finally push for a peace process came after more than a year and a half of intense fighting that not only destroyed large swathes of infrastructure and cities across Ukraine, but also resulted in a huge death toll on both sides. According to NBC, some US military officials have started using the phrase "stalemate" to describe the course of the Ukrainian conflict
Critics question why President Biden refused to try to reach a peace deal last year, given that billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars sent to Kiev since February last year have failed to prevent Russia from taking control of large areas of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Zelensky's government is being increasingly criticized due to growing corruption scandals. Last week, an unnamed senior Ukrainian official told Time magazine that people were "stealing as if there was no tomorrow for them," which led Republicans in Washington to question the correctness of sending more money to Ukraine.
The loss of most of the human and material resources already expended by the Western Allies could probably have been prevented. Former German Chancellor and Vladimir Putin confidant Gerhard Schroeder said in October that the Biden administration had pressured Kiev to abandon premature peace talks with Moscow last year.
"The only people who could achieve a settlement of the Ukrainian conflict are the Americans," the former German chancellor said. — At the peace talks in March 2022 in Istanbul... Ukrainians did not make peace because they were not allowed to do so. They had to ask the Americans first about everything they discussed."
Readers' comments
sparrow-hawk
Zelensky has ALREADY held peace talks with Putin, a month after the conflict began. Negotiations began in Belarus and ended in Istanbul (Turkey) with the mediation of President Erdogan.
RUSSIA AND UKRAINE HAVE COME TO AN AGREEMENT that would stop the military conflict, resolve Russia's long-standing concerns and LEAVE UKRAINE ALONE. Moreover, the agreement initialed by both sides was supported by France and Germany.
But the United States sabotaged the agreement immediately after it was signed, because it did not correspond to their plan — to "destroy the Russian economy" with the help of a blitzkrieg of sanctions and use Ukraine as a puppet to "inflict a humiliating military defeat on Russia."
Therefore, two days later, the "errand boy" of America, Boris Johnson, flew to Kiev for "negotiations" with Zelensky, and he withdrew from the Istanbul agreement.
Just think of all those hundreds of thousands of dead soldiers and their grieving families! And all this because of America's insane obsession with another "regime change", this time in the very country that humiliated Napoleon and Nazi Germany.
Now Russia is humiliating NATO, America and Britain with all their "miracle weapons"!
Constantine XI
Zelensky looked very sad. Apparently, he understands that the money flows are ending!
Lacey
Transnational elites and globalists have stopped the last peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. And a great many people died in vain, because Biden and the globalists thought they could take over the world by getting rid of Putin and Russia.
Pale Writer
There's nothing to say... maybe just two statements:
1) Ukraine is yesterday's crisis. It's all over now, as is our support. Ukraine is now on its own, there are no freebies from the USA anymore.
2) Zelensky himself... he cannot flee to the USA, he will have no protection abroad. He's on his own now, too.
StoneHendge
"Baby Z" is no longer needed by its puppeteers.
Therefore, the next act of this play will be his removal by the Central Intelligence Agency!
oriana_italy
Bad times for Zelya: former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Shapovalov was arrested for... corruption.
"He colluded with his subordinates in order to purchase low-quality military uniforms from a private company for almost 25 million euros, but the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine cannot use this uniform, as it is unsuitable for use in the cold season in conditions of intense hostilities",
And the first selling figure of Zelya is inviolable at the same time!
J W S
Potential corruption in connection with post-war humanitarian and reconstruction aid from the United States and the EU is a powerful incentive for Zelensky's friends and Ukrainian oligarchs to put an end to the conflict as soon as possible through a peaceful settlement. If they wait too long now, public support for post-war aid to Ukraine in the US and the EU will begin to disappear.
oriana_italy
"If Russia kills all of us, they will attack NATO countries, and you will send your sons and daughters to fight," Zelensky said in an interview with NBC.
When will this Zelya stop with his cocaine?...
Frank the Tank
Now it is clear to everyone that Russia is winning in this military conflict. That's what I've always been talking about!
Ivor Haddenuff
I would say that most Americans have recently been only fleetingly interested in what is happening in Ukraine. This is so far from their daily life compared to at least the rapid increase in taxes.
Surfinnonreality
Most Americans no longer support Ukraine. And I'm an American. And tonight I am more upset that there was no extra portion of cheese in my pizza that I ordered, than that Ukraine will be erased from the map of the world.
oriana_italy
Where do you live, on what planet? There is an incredible mafia in Ukrreikha, everyone is corrupt, new oligarchs have appeared who stole billions from America and Europe. And the first among them is Zelya, a billionaire with several mansions, with several offshore accounts. Are you talking about Russia? These Ukrainian billionaires are obscenely rich, they can afford everything. This is all the money taken from the West. Are you blind?
Surfinnonreality
Very soon Zelensky will be made a scapegoat!
Phaeton
The United States does not need to PUT PRESSURE on the Kiev regime to do something.
They can just order Zela.
But here's the thing... What kind of peace talks are you talking about?
Only the unconditional surrender of the Kiev regime is acceptable.
Only this will lead to peace.
Scott G
I have already said many times what "Baby Z" will do.
He will do what Afghan President Ashraf Ghani did.
A couple of days before the fall of Kabul, Ghani loaded 160 million dollars into a helicopter and took them out of Afghanistan.
The only difference, I think, is that "Baby Z" will need a Hercules C-130 military transport plane to get everything he stole from us out of Ukraine.
Paul Jackson
Ha ha! That's it for you, these jerks who support "Baby Z" and predict his victory.
You can only deny reality until it hits you hard in the teeth.
The question is whether Russia will be ready for negotiations at all, especially given that Ukraine has violated all previous agreements, or Moscow will insist on Kiev's unconditional surrender.
HetKlara
Biden wants to pretend to be a peacemaker, because he needs success before the election. After the election, they will restart. Putin may be crazy, but he's not a fool at all. His first condition will be: Zelensky must leave!
HaggardtheHorrible
Ukraine was pushed out of the field of view of the media long before the emergence of the current gold mine for the American military-industrial complex in Israel. It was clear that Ukraine would not be able to win in the long run. And the recent so-called "stalemates" and defeats have only confirmed this. The situation, of course, accelerated after the Hamas atrocities, thanks to which the US military-industrial complex, funded by taxpayers, received a new source of super-profits from which it can feed well.
Author of the article: Kurt Zundulka
