Donald Trump has said Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do” after Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine days after the US cut off vital intelligence and military aid to Kyiv.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday Trump said he finds it “easier” to work with Russia than Ukraine and that Putin “wants to end the war”.
“I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine. And they don’t have the cards,” Trump said. “In terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia.”
Asked whether the Russian leader was taking advantage of the pause in US intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine, Trump replied: “I actually think he is doing what anybody else would do.”
Except, there are multiple problems with your logic.
Had Zelenskyy accepted Putin’s offer in 2022, future Russian aggression would encounter a problem, the peace treaty would have the US and the UK, as guarantors, who were obliged to assist Ukraine in case of aggression against it. While the Russian Federation attempted to add on another condition where all guarantor states including Russia itself would have to agree to intervene in Ukraine possibily giving Russia the ability to veto other countries from aiding Ukraine in the event Russia broke the agreement, they were likely willing to drop that condition. Throughout the negotiations, Russia was actually dropping many of their previous demands and compromised with Ukraine on multiple occasions (unlike Zelenskyy who didn’t even invite Putin to his peace summits, kinda like the Russia-US peace summits rn).
And that previous agreements were also broken by both sides:
Budapest Memorandum was made null and void in 2013 when the US sanctioned Belarus which was explicitly prohibited in the agreement.
Minsk II was made null and void after Ukraine not only refused to implement them but created laws that violated the agreement and this is more or less the main reason 2022 invasion happened.
Minsk I "agreement quickly broke down, with violations by both sides."
Except, again, there’s no reason to believe that Russia was negotiating in good faith, and it sounds like the inclusion of security guarantees from the West is one of the reasons the talks broke down.
Again, Russia has broken basically every treaty and agreement they’ve ever made with Ukraine.
https://thedispatch.com/article/russia-history-broken-treaties-agreements/?signup=success
Your article basically stated that western countries are not willing to protect Ukraine. So what is the point of Ukraine trying to join NATO? That is the entire reason why this war started alongside Ukraine’s violations of Minsk II. So Ukraine could have simply prevented all of this nonsense by simply trying to not join NATO which they won’t join anyways.
Also love how you bring up a biased source.
The Budapest Memorandum only applied to the legitimate government of Ukraine. Russia does not consider the government of Ukraine post-Maidan to be legitimate for obvious reasons. Maidan was a violent coup against the democratically elected government with the post-Maidan government launching massacres against anti-Maidan protestors in Eastern Ukraine. It was also first violated by the United States who sanctioned Belarus which was explicity prohibited under the Memorandum.
Minsk I was violated by both sides. Even Ukraine admits this. This is why Minsk II was created because no one followed Minsk I.
Minsk II was violated by Ukraine not Russia. The agreement explicity stated that elections come first and then withdrawal. Ukraine wanted Russia to withdraw first before allowing elections in the DPR and LPR which is against the agreement.
The rest of those agreements are mainly between the US and Russia. Both of them violate it. US continued to develop nuclear weapons despite of the New START Treaty which is one of the reasons why Russia withdrew from it. The US illegitimately removed the accountability under the Treaty about a hundred strategic offensive arms. Both sides violated the Open Skies treaties. Treaties between Russia and the US are irrelvant when talking about Russian treaties with Ukraine.
I think you’re going to keep finding reasons why it’s Ukraine’s fault no matter what I or anyone say!s! I won’t waste any more time on this. The fact remains that Russia has broken pretty much every agreement they’ve ever struck with Ukraine since at least 2014, and Ukraine has zero incentive to enter into a new one without the force to ensure it’s followed. Their only choice is to try and wear Russia down with prolonged conflict.
Nope. Russia followed Minsk II. Ukraine did not.