Ukraine is on the Verge of a Catastrophic Betrayal

Throughout its misunderstood and despised history, Ukrainians were deprived of their own existence and nation-state by well-intentioned but naïve allies, benign foreign rulers and malevolent despots, who were propped up by homegrown supplicants.

No foreigner took the time to learn about Ukrainians, to understand them, their history and legacy, their aspirations. Ukrainians’ brief periods of self-determination were frowned upon by all because they demonstrated the Ukrainian nation’s undying will and ability to periodically stand up to a range of recognized dictators, all of which had political and commercial relations with the so-called benevolent international rulers.

In 1991 the Ukrainians proclaimed an independent and sovereign Ukraine and set out to chart its own future, separate from its subjugator, Russia. The ensuing three decades was still insufficient time for the international community to delve into the meaning of Ukrainian.

Russia, to be sure, was not wasting its time but rather planning to rebuild what it believed was only its temporarily lost empire. It believed that Ukraine would be returned to the Kremlin’s fold one way or another. That fateful moment came on February 22, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, eight years after illegally invading and occupying Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk.

After some seventy years of expressing its support for Ukraine and the other captive nations of Russian subjugation, Ukrainians and other nations actually believed that the United States of America would eagerly stand up for Ukraine. The newly independent captive nations quickly assumed their rightful positions alongside Ukraine. They were joined even by the United States – until now. It was unthinkable that a Republican Administration in the White House would abandon Ukraine in its existential war against Russian invaders. But it’s happening now.

President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio have toned down America’s support for Ukraine by disparaging Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty, openly stating that Ukraine’s return to the Russian fold is of no consequence. The current White House is willing to undertake peace negotiations with Russia without Ukraine’s participation. It has offered to sell its support for Ukraine’s freedom for the billion-dollar price tag for its natural resources.

Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense, who also doesn’t shine with intelligence about Ukraine, has categorically ruled out granting Ukraine NATO membership as a security guarantee to end Russia’s war. Some have argued that Ukraine’s accession to NATO would be the least expensive way to assure regional peace and stability.

Ukraine’s desired return to its pre-2014 borders and membership of NATO are “unrealistic” goals that should be excluded from any future peace settlement, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told allies on Wednesday, February 12, as he emphasized that Trump's intent to end Russia’s war “by diplomacy.” Hegseth’s remarks came at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels. More than 40 nations were represented.

"We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” Hegseth told his counterparts. “A durable peace for Ukraine must include robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again. This must not be Minsk 3.0,” he added, referring to the unsuccessful agreement that failed to end the Donbas war.

Reportedly, a few hours later, Trump said he and Russian fuhrer Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the Ukraine war. In a social media post that upended three years of US policy toward Ukraine, Trump disclosed a call between the two leaders and said they would “work together, very closely.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said Zelenskyy and Trump also had a phone conversation. The Ukrainian president is convinced that nothing will convince Putin to end the war.

Taken together, the statements by Trump, Hegseth and other White House officials offered the clearest look yet at how the new GOP Administration might try to end Europe’s largest land war since World War Two. Ukraine will simply be betrayed. It is striving to end the war in the easiest way possible, without consideration for the fairness of the conclusion. Will it be peace with justice, with strength, for all times?

Certainly, no. And the current White House Administration doesn’t care what kind of peace it will win so long as the President can declare that he said he’d do it, and he did.

It is important to comprehend what the United States is advocating – international theft is permissible. If a malevolent country invades its neighbor and illegally occupies acres and acres of farmland, destroys cities, and kills innocent men, women and children then it is alright to surrender permanently that real estate to the invader – for the sake of peace. Any superficial student of history would quickly realize that the sought after goal of peace is ersatz. Russia would certainly press westward, seizing more and more oblasts of Ukraine until it reaches the Polish border. And then what?

The White House Administration has turned a blind eye to Russia’s ongoing bombardment, destruction and killings. President Zelenskyy called on Western partners to apply more pressure to Russia after the latest overnight ballistic missile and drone strike killed at least one person and set multiple fires in the capital Kyiv.

“Apartment buildings, office buildings and civilian infrastructure were damaged,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “All our services are working on the ground, helping people and eliminating the consequences of this terror.”

“Unfortunately, as of now, one person has died in Kyiv,” he added. “Four more were injured, including a child. My condolences to the family and friends.”

Ukraine’s air force reported downing six out of seven ballistic missiles fired at Kyiv and the central city of Kryvyi Rih – Zelenskyy’s hometown. The air force said Russia also launched 123 strike drones into Ukraine, of which 71 were shot down and 40 were lost in flight.

Russia plans to exert long-term regional dominance by establishing its own lebensraum, a trading bloc to counter the likes of the European Union, but Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has hampered that vision, a leaked Kremlin report alleged, according to Kyiv Post. The report also acknowledged Western sanctions have driven the Kremlin’s former allies away from its grasp.

The Financial Times (FT) said the details were outlined in a presentation “shown at a strategy session led by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin last April,” with high-level figures in attendance that included “several dozen senior government officials and top executives at some of Russia’s largest state companies,” as well as some Kremlin hardliners such as far-right philosopher Aleksandr Dugin.

The FT did not disclose how it obtained the documents, and Kyiv Post cannot independently verify the authenticity of the content.

According to the FT, Russia sought to create a Moscow-led, trade-oriented Eurasian “macroregion” to restore its global influences – a bloc that would also connect the Global South by granting each side access to raw materials, as well as developing financial and transport The envisioned bloc would also have an ideological element, which would share a common “world view... where we write rule for the new world [and have] our own sanctions policy,” the report allegedly states.

The bloc, as per the Kremlin’s vision, would eventually counter other economic blocs, including those of the US, the EU, and Moscow-ally China.

It is evident that Putin hasn’t abandoned his broader goal of redrawing the balance of power in Europe three years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Estonia’s foreign intelligence service warned in a yearly report. A temporary ceasefire in Ukraine risks giving Putin a chance to “catch his breath” before resuming his war on Ukraine in pursuit of that goal, said the Estonian report, published Wednesday, February 12. His pre-invasion demand that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization roll back from eastern Europe still stands, it added.

The Baltic nations on NATO’s eastern flank are staunch supporters of Ukraine. Estonia, which borders Russia, has blamed Moscow’s intelligence services for a spate of acts of vandalism in recent years and ramped up defense spending.

“Putin likely views a resolution to this conflict as achievable only through a Yalta style agreement – that is, dividing Europe into spheres of influence,” the report said, referencing the meeting between US, UK and Soviet leaders to reorganize Europe’s borders and security architecture after World War II. 

In order to discourage military support to Ukraine, Russia will stoke “fears of a nuclear winter” in Western societies this year, the intelligence agency said. It added that Moscow is “highly unlikely to use nuclear weapons” against Ukraine, but “observing how the fear factor has restrained the West thus far,” will exploit it to the fullest. 

And all of this could happen on Donald Trump’s watch but Trump certainly has not read any of this nor does he care.