Why even Consider Terrorist Russia’s Point of View?

Not only is Russian führer Vladimir Putin a slave to war, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy befittingly labeled his arch nemesis last week, but he is also a bloody murderer who shamelessly and cold-heartedly kills his opponents.

World leaders should take note of that when next they shake hands – with the latter day Hitler. Do criminal terrorists deserve any consideration?

On the other side of the fence, supposedly the righteous free world’s side, US President Donald J. Trump continues to persecute and belittle Ukraine for pursuing the outlandish idea that the Ukrainian president has the God-given right to defend his country against Russian invaders. Ironically, Trump and Putin are opposed to Zelenskyy’s resolve that the aggressor Russia does not have the right to claim as its own the Ukrainian lands that it has seized. Consequently, the American and Russian leaders are loudly claiming in unison that the Ukrainian president is blindly stubborn as he forsakes peace.

Addressing the Munich Security Conference last week, Zelenskyy introduced his concept of Putin as a slave of war. In other words, the Russian leader’s life and policies are dictated by war. Putin is enslaved by the notion of war. Issues are resolved by violence, death and mayhem. According to Zelenskyy, the Russian despot is not interested in anything else.

“Putin does not live like ordinary people. He does not walk the streets. You will not see him in a café. His grandchildren do not go to a normal kindergarten in their hometown. He cannot imagine life without power or after power. Normal things do not interest him. Putin ‘consults’ more with Tsar Peter and Empress Catherine about territorial gains than with any living person about real life. Can you imagine Putin without war? Be honest.

“Right now, his focus is on Ukraine. And no one in Ukraine believes he will ever let our people go. But he will not let other European nations go either – because he cannot let go of the very idea of war. He may see himself as a tsar, but in reality, he is a slave to war. If he lives another 10 years – we understand, it can be – war can return. Or expand.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, among others, emphasized in his speech at the Munich Security Conference that future security guarantees for Ukraine must not meet the same fate as the Budapest Memorandum on nuclear arms, which Russia has continuously violated. The German official noted that as the potential ceasefire approaches, it will be necessary to ensure that any peace is lasting.

“We will have to protect Ukraine from any potential future aggression by Russia. For this major task, Ukraine needs substantial and reliable security guarantees,” Pistorius said.

He recalled that Marco Rubio pointed out in the US Senate in 2014 that the 1994 Budapest Memorandum had failed to fulfil its purpose and did not protect Ukraine, as Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.

“So the lesson for us, ladies and gentlemen, must be that we must not allow another ‘paper tiger’ like the Budapest Memorandum. And in order to provide credible security guarantees, all of us – all of us, both Europe and the United States – must contribute. Europe and Germany are ready to do their part,” Pistorius said.

Strangely, contrary to his fellow national leaders across Europe, President Trump is caught in a deadly web of believing that Putin can be reasoned with and mutual, binding decisions can be reached. Realistic security concerns expressed by Zelenskyy are beyond the scope of reason, he has said. Actually, Trump is oblivious to Ukraine’s genuine fear that invading Russian hordes would return to Ukraine in the future if they’re not dealt with conclusively now.

White House officials naively believe that Kremlin leaders can be trusted on the basis of a handshake. Security guarantees and deterrence are needless and wasteful. Putin can be trusted, Trump insists, because he has personally spoken with him at length.

Can he? How can you have confidence is a dictator who resorts to killing his opponents.

“That is why we say – there must be real security guarantees. For Ukraine and for Europe. Strong security guarantees. We know clearly what those guarantees must include. And we have strong agreements ready to sign with the U.S. and with Europe. We think that the agreement on security guarantees should come before any agreement to end the war. Those guarantees answer the main question – how long there will be no war again. We hope President Trump hears us. We hope the Congress hears us. We hope American people hear us. And we are grateful for all the real help,” Zelenskyy said.

As a result of Trump’s dangerously misguided beliefs, the US President pressures President Zelenskyy, the victim rather than the perpetrator, to change his ways to reach a peace deal. Zelenskyy expressed hope on the weekend that US-brokered peace talks next week in Geneva will be serious and substantive, but he expressed concern that Ukraine was being asked “too often” to make concessions.

“We truly hope that the trilateral meetings next week will be serious, substantive, helpful for all us but honestly sometimes it feels like the sides are talking about completely different things,” Zelenskyy said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference. “The Americans often return to the topic of concessions and too often those concessions are discussed only in the context of Ukraine, not Russia.”

As for the US-brokered talks this week, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was doing “everything” to end the war.

Speaking with journalists, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio poured cold water on Ukraine’s hopes for a decisive conclusion to the war. He pointed that he does not expect the war to conclude in what many would consider a “traditional loss” for either side, arguing that Russia is unlikely to achieve its original, sweeping objectives. Crossing a foreign border without retribution and holding on to what it has seized is a good objective, in Russia’s mind, for the time being. But for how long?

Instead, Rubio guilelessly suggested, Moscow’s ambitions have narrowed to consolidating the roughly 20% of the Donetsk region that it does not yet control – a goal he acknowledged would require “hard” concessions from Kyiv, both tactically and politically. Why should Ukraine concede anything to Russia? Is that justice or has Washington decided to abandon justice for a greater goal? Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize? However, finding a formula acceptable to Ukraine and tolerable to Russia, he said, remains the primary challenge. “It may not work out,” Rubio cautioned, though he maintained that the United States would continue pressing for a deal.

Rubio, obviously, is perpetuating Trump’s depraved policy of parity with no victims and perpetrators, while placating the criminal. In the White House’s faulted view, both countries are guiltless, even though the allies and former captive nations witnessed Russia’s cruel, bloody invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

Rubio deceptively noted that the USA wants to help Ukraine end the war. It’s a dangerous conclusion to the four-year war that Russia started. Ukrainians the world over want the war to end but if not with a clear victory for Ukraine then at least with a clear defeat for Russia. The terms of Moscow’s defeat and evacuation must not to allow it to attack Ukraine in the future. The occasion of another Russian invasion of Ukraine in the near or distant future is unacceptable to all Ukrainians in Ukraine and beyond. Surrendering Ukrainian land to Russia is also a non-starter.

That is the conclusion and peace that Washington must support. No parity. One victim and one criminal invader. If not, then Trump and all Republican candidates in 2026 and 2028 should rest assured that Ukrainian American voters will not cast their ballots for GOP candidates.