Ukraine's Existential War

"Millions have left -- many of them young and able-bodied. You see them here in Calgary [Alberta]."

"They're here on temporary status. They can work, but it's very, very difficult. People are not going to come back if no inch of Ukraine is safe -- and I don't use those words lightly. That's what Ukrainians tell me they feel."

"No one voluntarily leaves their home. So the question is, if we give them citizenship, does that make it easier -- or harder -- for them to return? I'll be honest, that needs to be decided."

"We know Russia is waging hybrid warfare here, including election meddling [in Canada]. Our friends in Ottawa seem to think if we expel theirs, they'll expel ours and we'll lose so much. We can get other countries to represent us."

"Ukraine is still fighting. It will fight to the end. This is an existential war."

"Whether it's the missiles, either defensive or offensive military kit, or really hard-core sanctions, I think many Western leaders are actually still afraid of Putin ... we're afraid that if we push him too hard, he'll do the worst and reach for the nuclear button."

Michael Bociurkiw, Canadian-Ukrainian journalist, Odessa, Ukraine 

A  man carries a dog among rubble outside a residential building which was damaged during Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv on June 2, 2026. Ukrainian refugees “are not going to come back if no inch of Ukraine is safe,” Canadian journalist Michael Bociurkiw warns. Photo by Roman PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images

 

"Yes, you [Vladimir Putin] can still force Russians to exist this way. But your resources are shrinking significantly. You will not have enough money or political capital to keep buying the loyalty of Russians the way you have for the past 26 years."

"The front line today is the line from which diplomacy must begin [to negotiate an end to the war]."

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting proposal with Vladimir Putin

 

"I see no sense [in a meeting after receiving such a 'rude' letter]."

"Is it a way to create conditions for a personal meeting and negotiations, or is it creating an environment in which it's impossible to hold any personal meetings at all?"

"I think it's the latter."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his office in Kyiv. The Ukrainian president tells Vladimir Putin in an open letter: ‘If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence.’ Photograph: Ukrainian presidential press service

 

After over four years of relentless attacks by Moscow's larger military against Ukraine's domestic infrastructure and its civilian population, attacks geared to destroying the country's energy structures to impact as deleteriously as possible winter living conditions year after year, while denials from the Kremlin assure the watching world that its military never sends missiles or drones to target civilians -- only military targets -- the Russian president is incensed over the social niceties spurned by the president whose nation he has mercilessly and without cause shattered.

 

  Putin insists Russia is winning the war and Ukraine must surrender territory   EPA

 

Russian efforts at destabilizing the Ukrainian government and its society and demoralizing its population  have failed. There is unity of purpose in Ukraine, even among the exhausted war-weary population -- and morale continues to be as elevated as can be possible in such conflict circumstances. By seeking to divide the civilian population from its hard-pressed government, Russia has succeeded in pushing them closer together in the common existential purpose of survival.

 

And while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a rare open letter to his Russian counterpart proposed a meeting for the purpose of negotiating an end to the war, face-to-face, it is clear that Russian demands and Ukraine's steadfast position can never come to any agreement, despite the urging of U.S. President Donald Trump, pleased at the prospect of the two meeting: "I'm glad that they're maybe talking about meeting, I think we had a lot to do with it. But I think it would be great if they met, they should get it done."

 

Trump says Zelenskyy-Putin meeting would be ‘great’ after Ukraine president’s letter - still from video

 

For starters, President Zelenskyy made it clear that he was prepared for a "full ceasefire" and "all-for-all exchange of prisoners of war", even before such a meeting could take place. He made it abundantly clear that it is imperative for Russia to return the Ukrainian civilians and children who had been forcibly taken to Russia during the war. Alluding to recent successes for Ukraine on the battlefield, Mr. Zelenskyy also reminded Mr. Putin that Ukrainian intelligence-gathering affirmed that over 30,000 Russian soldiers were killed or seriously wounded in May alone.

 

Russia itself has been caught up in a war its population never dreamed would reach them, as long-range Ukrainian drones have brought the civilian population in Russia the undreamed-of nightmare reality that they too, not only Ukrainians can become targets of deadly missiles and drones. The peace proposal reached by Putin and US. President Donald Trump last year in Alaska, requiring Ukraine to surrender land in exchange for an end to the conflict was rejected by Mr. Zelenakyy: "You can see for yourself that Ukrainian and European issues are not decided in Anchorage", he responded. 

 

A Ukrainian serviceman of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade walks on a street near the frontline town of Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia region on Wednesday. (Reuters)

 

"We Will Achieve This By Force"

 

Photo montage, Getty Images

"We need to sit down and discuss this seriously."

"[President Donald Trump's plan is] a set of issues put forward for discussion [rather than a draft agreement]."

"If Ukrainian troops withdraw from the territories they occupy, hostilities will cease."

"If they don't withdraw, we will achieve this by force."

Russian President Vladimir Putin 

Russian President Vladimir Putin reviews the honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at Yntymak-Ordo in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, November 26, 2025. Igor Kovalenko/EPA/Shutterstock

 

Force, of course, is what this revanchist imperialist employed with his 'special military operation' launched against a sovereign Ukraine, with the intention of dragging the nation back into the fold of the Soviet Union that Vladimir Putin is planning on reconstructing. It is the reason Russia's near neighbours shudder at the Kremlin's actions in Georgia, Moldova, Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. 

 

Speaking of Ukraine in holding its own territories as 'occupied' is typical Putian logic. It is, of course, Russia/Putin that 'occupies' Ukrainian territory starting with the coveted Crimean Peninsula and going on six years later to add Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson oblasts. Even that is not enough for Putin, vowing to fight on 'until the last Ukrainian dies'.  

"Putin does not want an agreement." 

"The only agreement he wants is diktat -- a Ukrainian surrender. Otherwise, he wants to continue fighting."

"I suspect if Ukraine had accepted those dreadful 28 points, Putin would come back for more."

"He realizes those 28 points reflected great flexibility moving his direction on the part of the United States, and he would say, 'See what else we can get'."

John Herbst, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine  

Vladimir Putin's idea of an end to war and the arrival of peace, is that Ukrainian forces must vacate the areas they 'occupy', for if they insist on remaining in defense of Ukrainian territory, Russian troops will roll right over them. With Russia's larger military, generously equipped, the original Ukrainian defensive swiftly turned into an offensive, demonstrating the courage and determination of a unique social/political order and historical culture to protect its inalienable sovereignty from the malign grasp of a warmonger.

 

Russia is demanding territory from Ukraine it has devastated throughout the course of the nearly four-year war (AFP/Getty)

 

The U.S. president's confidence that his status as the reigning world leader would convince two warring parties to submit to reason; enough blood shed, enough material destruction, enough displacement, enough refugees, and more than enough madness in the fog of war, greed, revenge, fear and misery. The tactics employed to date; strong-arming and verbally abusing and threatening the defender, while deferring to the offender have failed in their aberrant and clumsy overtures.

 

What is obvious that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not bow to the unreasonable pressures he has been plied with, while acknowledging the need to placate to a certain measure some of the demands impressed upon him. Putin, on the other hand, remains fixated on the enterprise he set out to accomplish; acquiring by limitless force as much of the geography of Ukraine for a Greater Russia that the sacrifice of lives on both side can accomplish.

 

Andriy Yermak (right) said Ukraine’s Zelensky (left) would never give up land before he resigned on Friday amid an anti-corruption probe.  Reuters

 

Ukraine, as far as Putin is concerned, must withdraw completely from all of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions to make way for Russian annexation. Until this demand is satisfied, Moscow has no interest whatever in 'peace negotiations'. Nor can Ukraine be permitted to join NATO. Much less be permitted to host NATO troops for security reasons. 

 

European leaders, in their support of Ukraine while regarding the scenario that has been unfolding for the past three years in that country to be a potential prelude to what they too might experience should Russia prevail, are anxious to be consulted along with Ukraine for any alterations to the draft peace plan the Trump administration has pieced together. 

 

Europe is well aware that their adversary in Moscow plans to outwait their commitment in supporting the Ukrainian war effort. They are also acutely aware that it wouldn't take much for this irascible president who does not take kindly to opposition, to walk away from American past obligations in upholding the world order. Ukraine shudders at the prospect of being left adrift without any support at all from the U.S., whether it be badly needed military arms, or intelligence.  

"I see nothing at the moment that would force Putin to recalculate his goals or abandon his core demands."

"He feels more confident than ever about the battlefield situation and is convinced that he can wait until Kyiv finally accepts that it cannot win and must negotiate on Russia's well-known terms."

"If the Americans can help move things in that direction -- fine. If not, he knows how to proceed anyway." 

Tatiana Stoyanova, founder, R.Politik, senior fellow, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center  

 

The Elusive Path to Peace in Ukraine

"If everything works out well today, we'll have a trilat and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that."

"Were going to work with everybody, and we're going to make sure that if there's peace, the peace is going to stay long-term." 

"I don't think you need a ceasefire. We can work a deal where we'll work on a peace deal while they're fighting."

"[Zelenskyy] can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight."

U.S. President Donald Trump 

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy upon his arrival at the White House, amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 18, 2025. REUTERS/Alexander Drago/

 

"Seriously discussing security guarantees without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere."

"[Any summit between Putin and Zelenskyy]  must be prepared in the most meticulous way [so it does not lead to a ] deterioration [of the situation surrounding the conflict]."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Donald Trump's special envoy said Russia had agreed to allow the US and Europe to give Ukraine "robust" security guarantees as part of a potential peace deal.  Still from video

 

"We are ready for a trilateral" (three-way summit including U.S. President Trump, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy) offered the Ukrainian President. While he is indubitably open to such a face-to-face meeting with his mortal enemy, Russia's Putin appears not to want to entertain that potential, failing to commit to anything remotely resembling one, during his Alaska meeting with President Trump. There were no concessions on Moscow's part, although the American president was loathe to give even a slight impression that the high-profile meeting with the two meeting for the first time in years failed to accomplished anything.

 

Despite months of American efforts on the diplomatic front with Trump accelerating his moves to put a stop to the conflict, the possibility of success appears as distant as it did from the day he vowed to end Russia's war on Ukraine on his first day in office. Trump's blind trust in a personal relationship with the Russian president that could sway his decision-making to turn away from his territorial grab of Ukrainian sovereign land pushed up against the reality that Putin is committed to his aspirational annexation resembling the forced unity of the USSR.

 

Despite which, Trump continues to reiterate his claim of belief that Putin is reasonable, and it is Volodymyr Zelenskyy who could and should end the war that was forced on Ukraine. The takeaway from that assertion is inescapable; the President of Ukraine, according to the U.S. president's reasoning, merely has to agree to shedding Ukraine of its industrially and militarily important Donbas region comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk. Essentially, a complete surrender by Kyiv to Moscow. For starters.

 

Europe is working together with the US to provide security guarantees for Ukraine in case of a possible peace deal with Russia. Part of the plan is to send a deterrent force with international soldiers.  AP Photo  

President Trump is perfectly content with the Crimean peninsula remaining in Moscow's possession. President Zelenskyy on the other hand is clear that his Russian counterpart used Crimea and the eastern Donbas seized in 2014 "as a springboard for a new attack" and full invasion, in February 2022.  "Russia must end this war which it itself started", he insisted. A position clearly not favoured by President Trump, siding with Putin. Trump feels Putin is a strong man and thus admirable, not quite understanding that the strength demonstrated by Zelenskyy under mortal duress is much more morally admirable.

 

Trump has moved from threatening punitive measures on Moscow, to positioning himself anew with the Kremlin's insistence that negotiations with Ukraine must focus on a long-term settlement. Zelenskyy on the other hand with a view to continue defending Ukraine and denying Putin's territorial grabs, reiterated Ukraine's dependency on the U.S. and its allies to provide critical weapons and security guarantees before he feels confident enough to strike a deal, absent total capitulation to Putin's demands. Patriot air defence batteries obtained from the U.S. and paid for by Ukraine's European allies are critical to counter Russian missile and drone attacks.

 

"We are thankful for this program and this opportunity", Zelenskyy conveyed to President Trump. At the same time, Zelenskyy and his European allies - German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have been subtly trying to steer Trump from forcing territorial concessions on Kyiv. Pinning down security guarantees similar to NATO's Article 5 mutual defence clause is another vital goal. 

 

A "candid discussion" took place between defence chiefs from across the NATO alliance regarding what security guarantees could be offered to Kyiv, revealed Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of NATO's Military Committee. "I thanked everyone for their always proactive participation in these meetings: we are united, and that unity was truly tangible today, as always", he stated. As well, Dan Caine, U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held talks with European military chiefs on the "best options for a potential Ukraine peace deal".

 

A coalition of 30 countries, including European nations, Japan and Australia, signed support for an aspirational force that could backstop any peace agreement. President Trump, critical of billions in U.S. support given Ukraine, statement that European nations were "willing to put people on the ground", in support of a settlement, while he ruled out U.S. troops being sent to Ukraine, although air support might be supplied. This, in the face of Russia's stand of non-tolerance of the presence of Western troops in Ukraine.  

"Our units are engaged in heavy defensive battles against superior Russian forces."

"I am convinced that through joint efforts, with the political and diplomatic support of Ukraine’s dedicated partners, we will be able to achieve a real peace and guarantee security for Ukraine and the whole of democratic Europe."  

Ukraine Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre, called Monday's summit at the White House involving several European leaders a 'major step forward,' but the path to peace remains clouded. (Italian Prime Ministry/Reuters)

 

 

Art of the Deal: Stopping Russia

"We're sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100 percent."

"So what we're doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and NATO is paying for those weapons." 

U.S. President Donald Trump 

 

"[The U.S. is encouraging its NATO allies] to provide those weapons, systems, the defensive systems that Ukraine seeks ... since they have them in their stocks, and then we can enter into financial agreements with them, with us, where they can purchase the replacements."

"It's a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a [U.S.] factory and get it there."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

 

"There is no silence in Ukraine."

"We found a solution, as a country, scientists and engineers fund a solution. That's the key."

"We need financing. And then, we will intercept."

"Russia does not change its strategy, and to effectively counter this terror we need a systemic strengthening of defences: more air defences, more interceptor [drones], more determination to make Russia feel our response."  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, first responders work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in the Kyiv region on Friday. (Ukrainian Emergency Service/The Associated Press)

 

That's the beauty of the 'art of the deal', so beloved of the American President. He can advance aid to Ukraine, fighting for its survival against a larger army with endless military equipment at its disposal, in a  tangential manner without direct involvement that would really annoy his erstwhile friend Vladimir Putin and in the process ensure that American manufacturers of military equipment gain new orders to be sent on to Europe, finessing a deal that transactionally benefits the United States financially.

 

So the answer to the quandary is encouraging allies to transfer their U.S.-made, high-functional military gear to Ukraine, with the Trump administration's approval, while holding out the advantage to all concerned of bolstering American weapons-producers through future sales to replenish their reduced stocks. Finessing the art of the deal, pleasing the mercurial president no end at his clever manoeuvres. It is Europe, after all, that would find itself in Russia's crosshairs should its 'special military operation' in Ukraine gain Moscow its territorial enterprise aspirations.

 

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio pointed out, the U.S.-made weapons Ukraine desperately seeks are already deployed with NATO allies in Europe, transferable to Ukraine, leaving European countries to seek replacements from the United States. Greater numbers of Patriot air defence systems are badly needed by Ukraine in its efforts to stop Russian ballistic and cruise missiles at a time when the Trump White House issues conflicting views of its preparedness to provide more vital military equipment to Ukraine.

 

 

First there was a pause on the shipments of some weapons from the U.S., then the  usual Trump turnaround stating he would continue sending defensive weapons to Kyiv. U.S. officials assured Ukraine this week that 155 mm munitions and precision-guided rockets were in transit. Patriot missile systems are in the possession of Germany, Spain and other European countries, among whom some have placed orders to acquire more of them.

 

Russia is attempting to overwhelm Ukraine's air defences through the launch of major aerial attacks on its cities. In relation to which Ukraine has pleaded with other European countries for supplies of an additional ten Patriot systems and missiles. Russia had fired over 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine last week, in numbers well in excess of previous nightly barrages for the third time in a two-week period. This, at a time when Russia's military is pressing on the front line where thousands of soldiers on both sides have died since February 2022.

 

Waves of drone and missile attacks targeted Kyiv overnight into Friday in the largest aerial attack since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began more than three years ago, injuring 23 people and inflicting severe damage across multiple districts of the capital in a seven-hour onslaught. (Gleb Garanich/Reuteres)

 

A Russian drone barrage hit the centre of Kharkiv before dawn on Friday, damaging a maternity hospital in the second-larges city in Ukraine. Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, has endured intensifying repeated drone attacks recently, as have other regions of the country. The highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years occurred in June, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, as a result of Russia launching ten times more drones and missiles in that month as they had a year ago that month. 

 

Mr. Zelenskyy reminded his European colleagues that Moscow has plans to manufacture up to 1,000 drones a day, fashioning them after the Shahed drones supplied to Russia by the Islamic Republic of Iran, with modifications to make them even more effective. More interceptor drones are also required by Ukraine, to down Russian drones. The repeated Russian drone and missile onslaughts inspired Kyiv authorities to establish a comprehensive drone interception system under a project named Clear Sky.

 

The Clear Sky project includes a $6.2-million interceptor drone investment, operator training and new mobile response units, according to the head of the Kyiv Military Administration. And it is the production of the newly developed interceptor drones proven successful against Shaheds, that Mr. Zelenskyy appealed to his European partners to help accelerate production for. Ukraine is also installing nets to deflect the drones by interrupting their settings and neutralizing them.

 

A woman stands next to damaged cars following what local authorities said was a Ukrainian drone attack, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the town of Voronezh, Russia July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

 

 

Vladimir, STOP!

"I am not happy with the Russian strikes in KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing."

"Vladimir, STOP!"

"5000 soldiers a week are dying."

"Let's get the Peace Deal DONE!" 

"I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelenskyy. So far it's been harder, but that's OK. It's all right."

U.S. President Donald Trump

Trump posted on Wednesday that he is "not happy" with Russia's attacks.

Reuters/Getty Images

"The principle of Ukraine's territorial integrity is not something that can be negotiated."

"This was the position taken last week and reiterated yesterday in London in a meeting of a similar format."

Christophe Lemoine, French Foreign Ministry spokesman

Kyiv was struck by Russia with an hours-long barrage of missiles and drones with a dozen people killed and 90 injured. So much for the progress being made by the Trump administration's efforts for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. But a rare rebuke by Trump to Putin was at the very least, refreshing when Trump's frustration led him to lash out at Putin. This, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy got similar treatment for his intransigence in refusing to allow Moscow to take full possession of Ukrainian territory ill-gotten by Putin's illegal invasion. 

President Zelenskyy was accused of prolonging the "killing field" when he refused to surrender the Crimea Peninsula to Putin, to achieve a peace agreement. Occupied by Russia which annexed Crimea in 2014. Since February 2022 Mr. Zelenskyy has said repeatedly that recognizing occupied territory as Russia's represents a Ukrainian red line. Ukraine agreed to a U.S. ceasefire proposal 44 days ago, as an initial step in a negotiated peace, Mr. Zelenskyy reminded Trump, yet attacks by Moscow had simply continued.

Rescue workers search for people under rubble of an apartment building destroyed in the barrage.

Yevhenii Zavhorodnii/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images

Trump's irritation with Moscow is evident in his reaction, given that the American president has stated repeatedly that Russia -- the conflict's aggressor -- is more willing to get a deal done than is Ukraine. In his negotiations with both leaders in the conflict, Trump's focus has been  on which of the two has leverage. Putin, he decided, has "the cards", and Zelenskyy does not, he has repeatedly said, taking steps in a cooperative relationship with Putin, a man he has long admired. A strongman attracted to others like himself.

 

Norway, a NATO member and supporter of Ukraine, with its 198-kilometre border with Russia, has reason to fear that Russia's  territorial ambitions will not stop with Ukraine. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store wrote in a social media post his intention to underscore during talks with Trump that "close contact between Norway and the USA is crucial. We must contribute to a lasting and just peace in Ukraine". 

"There is only one answer we are waiting for: Does President Putin agree to an unconditional ceasefire?"

"The Americans' anger should focus on just one person: President Putin."

"[Putin should] stop lying [when he claims to want] peace." 

French President Emmanuel Macron

Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is set to visit Moscow for a new round of talks with Putin; representing their fourth meeting since January. NATO leaders will meet in the Netherlands in two months' time. France's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lemoine, asked whether France is in agreement with comments by Trump that Ukraine's position was responsible for prolonging the war, responded that Ukrainians demonstrated they are open to negotiations. Russia, on the other hand, continues its strikes.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives in South Africa on Wednesday hours after US President Donald Trump accused him of harming peace talks.

Courtesy of the Ukrainian Presidency

 

Transparently Disingenuous Russia

"Under the auspices of the United Nations, with the United States, even with European countries, and, of course, with our partners and friends, we could discuss the possibility of introduction of temporary governance in Ukraine."

"[It would allow the country to] hold democratic elections, to bring to power a viable government that enjoys the trust of the people, and then begin negotiations with them on a peace treaty." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Putin said Russian troops had the "strategic initiative" in Ukraine   Reuters

"He is afraid of negotiating with Ukraine."

"He is afraid of negotiating with me personally, and by excluding Ukraine's [government] he is suggesting that Ukraine is not an independent actor for him."

"Europe definitely knows how to defend itself, and we are working together to ensure greater security for our country and all European nations." 

"Russia continues looking for excuses to drag this war out even further."

"Putin is playing the same game he has since 2014 [unilateral annexation of the Crimean peninsula]."

"This is dangerous for everyone -- and there should be an appropriate response from the United States, Europe, and all our global partners who seek peace."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"You could say that I was very angry, pissed off, when... Putin started getting into Zelensky's credibility, because that's not going in the right location."

"New leadership means you're not gonna have a deal for a long time." 

"If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia's fault - which it might not be... I am going to put secondary tariffs... on all oil coming out of Russia."

"There will be a 25% tariff on oil and other products sold in the United States, secondary tariffs."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

(Volodymyr Zelenskyy / X)

 

As a brilliant solution to vexing problems, Russian President Putin's Friday proposal for Ukraine to be placed  temporarily under external governance throughout the efforts to reach a peaceful settlement in the conflict that Russia imposed upon Ukraine through its military invasion and subsequent claims of legitimacy in annexing Ukrainian provinces as Russian territory, this one registered as just another form of naked aggression on the part of Russia in its territorial grabs. 

 

Further, calling into dispute Ukrainian democracy and President Zelenskyy's legitimacy reminds one of Vladimir Putin's musical chairs performance when he brought in Dmitry Medvedev as president while he took on Medvedev's prime ministerial role, to enable them to once again reverse the situation ensuring that Russia's two-term presidency limit would not interfere with Putin's designs to remain Russian president in perpetuity to which end he changed the constitution and now sits secure as Russia's legal long-term president. Any challengers have been summarily either murdered or imprisoned.

 

Yet this is the man who insists that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has no legitimacy to sign a peace agreement since his term expired. A pathetic piece of demagoguery since he would be very well aware that it is illegal in Ukraine for national elections to be held during times of conflict and the nation is under martial law. Still, Putin pressed ahead with the claim that any such agreement to a permanent ceasefire signed by the sitting Ukrainian government could be challenged by a successor government so that new elections should be called for, through external vigilance under temporary guardianship. 

A summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron considered plans for troop deployment to Ukraine in view of an eventual peace deal where Macron announced that 'several' other nations would volunteer to participate in the force along with France and Britain. Mr. Putin, however, made it clear that he would not accept troop involvement from NATO members in a prospective peacekeepng force. So, for Mr. Putin it would be far more appropriate if Belarus, Iran and North Korean troops comprised such a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

 

"They are playing games and they're playing for time", stated U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, while Macron and other Paris summit participants accused Russia of insincerity in its offering to participate in negotiations that could lead to a peace agreement to end the bloodshed. 

Both Russia and Ukraine agreed in principle to a tentative US.-brokered agreement to pause strikes on energy infrastructure even as both sides hold varying views on when the deal to halt strikes should become effective, accusing one another of violations, making it more than obvious just how fraught any semblance of an agreement would be in the challenge to negotiate a broad peace. 

 

Germany has voted to hugely boost investment in its military   BBC

 

Russia's claims of wanting peace and an end to the conflict -- as long as it is able to hold on to the one-fifth of eastern Ukraine that the Kremlin now considers part of Greater Russia, are viewed with skepticism by its neighbours. Leading Norway, as an example to refurbish its old Cold War Military Bunkers, and leaving Germany convinced it must now begin to rebuild a viable military, the better to confront any future expansionary moves by Moscow.

 

Bunkers like the ones at Bardufoss can keep expensive fighter planes safe from attacks by drones (Credit: Norwegian Armed Forces)

 

 

 

"The First Step In A Movement To Peace"

"[This is the first step in a] movement to peace."

"Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace." 

"The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people."

White House statement

 

"We have received signals from the United States that we are talking about the ceasefire on energy facilities, so not to attack energy infrastructure, and we are also talking about the civilian infrastructure facilities."

"We talked only about one power plant, [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in south Ukraine] which is under Russian occupation."

"[I had] felt no pressure [from Trump]. It was a fruitful conversation, perhaps the most fruitful we have had, the mood was positive."

"We instructed our teams to resolve technical issues related to implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he had ‘a positive, very substantive’ conversation with the US president. Photograph: @ZelenskyyUa/X

 

"The need to halt arms supplies to Kyiv was discussed during Putin and Trump’s conversation."

"[Ceasing military aid would be] high on the agenda in negotiations between Russia and the US, but the topic will not be discussed publicly."

Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov

 

"It’s a very strange demand, of course. He [Vladimir Putin] wants Ukraine to give up its army, to give up security guarantees, to give up its right to be in alliances, and to give up on various territories."

"This is what he’s been fighting for for three years, and he couldn’t do it militarily …"

"And now that’s what he wants from the negotiations process."

Zelenskyy aide Mykhailo Podolyak

During a lengthy telephone call on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to seek a limited ceasefire against energy and infrastructure targets in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, an agreement that the White House felt would eventually include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, and ultimately, a full and lasting end to the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. 

A statement by the White House added plans for negotiations to "begin immediately" on those steps, to take place in the Middle East, though it was not clear whether Ukraine is in agreement with the phased ceasefire plan. A limited ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes and the release of prisoners was what Ukrainian officials envisaged at their meeting with the U.S. delegation this month in Saudi Arabia.

 

Mr. Putin, on the other hand, according to the Kremlin, welcomed President Trump's calls for the maritime ceasefire and felt confident enough it "agreed to begin negotiations to further work out specific details of such an agreement".  Russia and Ukraine were preparing to exchange 175 prisoners of war on each side the day following, according to the Putin-Trump conversation. Russia planned to hand over to Ukraine in addition, 23 badly wounded soldiers.

 

During the 90-minute conversation, Mr. Putin called on his American counterpart to end its foreign military and intelligence arrangements with Ukraine. While the White House focuses on Russia to sign off on its 30-day ceasefire proposal aimed at ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials agreed last week to the 30-day ceasefire proposal in talks led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, nonetheless remains skeptical that the Russian president is sincere in his oblique statements for peace, given that Russian forces continue to pound his country. The latest engagement is yet another turn in dramatically shifting U.S.-Russia relations reflecting Mr. Trump's pre-election statements of his intention to quickly put an end to the war as a top priority. 

 

That in so doing ties with longtime U.S. allies are strained, given their insistence that Putin must pay a price for its invasion of Ukraine, seems not to trouble Mr. Trump one whit. 

As for Ukraine's president, in his nightly video address on Monday, his statements clearly reflected his doubt that Putin is ready for peace. "Now, almost a week later, it's clear to everyone in the world -- even to those who refused to acknowledge the truth for the past three years -- that it is Putin who continues to drag out this war", he said.

 

As an aside during the conversation between the U.S. and Russian presidents, the White House later stated that what also came under discussion between the two leaders  during their extensive conversation, is the explosive situation currently unfolding in the Middle East; both purportedly agreeing that "Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel".

 

As for Mr. Putin's longer-range designs, the Kommersant Russian newspaper reported that Putin had informed a meeting of senior business leaders of his intention to continue the fighting until such time that he obtains full control of -- along with international recognition of -- the four regions in Ukraine that Moscow annexed in 2022. Quite obviously, Mr. Putin has abandoned none of his hardline objectives in the war he imposed upon Ukraine.

 

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meeting at a summit in Helsinki, July 2018. EPA-EFE/Mauri Ratilainen

 

Kyiv to Washington: Explain Your Game Plan!

"If anyone wants to replace me right now, then it just isn't going to happen."

"I wish Trump's team had more truth. Because none of this is having a positive effect on Ukraine."

"[Claims from Trump that ratings stood at four percent is disinformation] coming from Russia."

"Since we are talking about 4 percent, we have seen this disinformation, we understand that it is coming from Russia. We understand this, and we have evidence that these numbers are being discussed between America and Russia."

"President Trump, with great respect for him as a leader of the people (...) unfortunately, lives in this disinformation space."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy says Trump 'living in disinformation space' created by Russia

 

"Well, we have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine; where we have martial law, essentially martial law, in Ukraine; where the leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4% percent approval rating."

"He [Zelensky] refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden 'like a fiddle'. A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left...I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died."  

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

President Donald Trump speaks during the signing of executive orders at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.   Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

The verbal jousting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy has resonated deeply in Ukraine. Ukrainians who have been chafing at the ongoing conflict that Russia imposed on it, finding fault with their president's positions have now been unified with those of their compatriots who find the president doing all that can possibly be done in defence of their country amid the conflict, and his unstinting efforts in the international diplomatic field to bring together staunch supporters and allies, imploring them to aid Ukraine in its existential struggle against the territorial ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

Assertions by Donald Trump of the Ukrainian President's failures in the field of popularity among Ukrainians, faulting him for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine that has displaced millions of Ukrainian citizens, levelled huge swaths of Ukrainian infrastructure, killed or wounded hundreds of thousands have not been well received by the Ukrainian population at large. Nor has most of Europe been impressed by the statesmanship of the leader of the most powerful country in the world, who has suddenly once again turned against America's traditional allies and found common ground with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

"Today I heard, 'Oh, we weren't invited'."

"Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it."

"You should have never started it."

"You could have made a deal."

Trump taunting Zelenskyy 

Ukraine, held President Trump, must hold elections. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Ukraine's premier polling organization, published a survey concluding that 57 percent of Ukrainians place their trust in Zelenskyy. Trump's election call for Ukraine and erroneous claims of  low approval ratings echo Vladimir Putin's attacks on the legitimacy of the Ukrainian leader whose Churchillian performance has been outstanding, has become a matter of confused conjecture over Mr. Trump's logic and comprehension of the Russian invasion leading to its occupation of a sixth of Ukraine.

 

Transposing Russia's own flawed election results and the manipulation of Vladimir Putin's changes engineered to alter the Russian constitution in 2021, to enable Putin to remain power up to 2036, appears to have escaped the American President's notice in his tirade against a democratically elected president in Ukraine with a high trust rating among his electorate.  Moreover, charging Ukraine with 'starting' the war is a direct quote from Vladimir Putin that Russia had 'no choice' but to attack Ukraine as a matter of self-defence.

 

"It sounds like there was a handout prepared by Lavrov given to Rubio, and now they're just reading it", remarked former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. A situation alerting Europe that the alliances the West has been dependent on for mutual security since World War II appear to be unraveling. "Diverse, varied and often incomprehensible", is how French government spokeswoman Sophie Primas characterized Trump's remarks. "We do not understand the American logic very well."

"I would love to meet with Donald. It's been a long time since we've seen each other. I would love to meet with him now as well. I think he will, too", chortled President Putin, praising the meetings between the U.S. and Russian diplomats in Riyadh as 'friendly', describing how different the U.S. representatives were from their Biden predecessors.

 

The resulting firestorm of support for Zelenskyy in Ukraine, where under Ukrainian law, an election cannot be called under a state of martial law and the country steeped deep in conflict, with millions of its citizens abroad, making voting a strategic nightmare, the call for elections has been viewed as an underhanded attempt to sow chaos and divide the country at a time of its vexing existential dilemma. 

 

A prominent documentary director and commentator in Ukraine, a critic of Mr. Zelenskyy, wrote: "After Trump's verbal diarrhea, by tomorrow, Zelensksyy's approval rating will be back above 90 percent -- just like it was on February 24, three years ago", with the invasion of Ukraine by Moscow. 

 

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks after signing an executive order on reciprocal tariffs in the Oval Office at the White House on February 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the 61st Munich Security Conference on February 15, 2025 in Munich, Germany.   Getty Images

 

                                                                                                                         

Public Backlash Against Trudeau & Parliamentarians Over WWII Ignorance

"All you government people who gave a standing ovation to someone who was associated with the Nazis during WW2 would be really funny if it wasn't so tragic."

"My dad spent years in Buchenwald concentration camp. I still remember all the stories he told me, and it wasn't pretty."

"You clowns all look ridiculous after such a big blunder."

Critic of Parliamentary MPs ignorant of their history

 

"You ennoble the Waffen-SS [a criminal organization per the Nuremberg Trials], and you spit in the faces of our surviving Canadian veterans as well as besmirching the memories of those who died fighting tyranny."

Emailed criticism of Members of Parliament

Yaroslav Hunka, right, waits for the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the House of Commons in Ottawa, on Sept. 22. Photo by Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press

Justin Trudeau's Liberal government, anxious to demonstrate to the world at large its limitless support for Ukraine under bombardment by Russia, welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's Jewish President, to honour and lionize him for his courageous stand against his neighbour's plans of domination and territorial aggression. The Ukrainian president was on another of his tours of supporting nations, to express his country's gratitude for their help and to urge that increased financial and weaponry assistance was badly needed.

 

Canada has an extremely large Ukrainian-Canadian community. And among many Ukrainians there is a strong appreciation for wartime Ukrainian patriots who volunteered their services under the Third Reich which was in conflict with the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets had originally signed a pact with Germany to become a partner in its Axis forces, Chancellor Hitler gave orders to attack the USSR which moved to align itself with the Allies.

 

In their great wisdom and wish to do honour to President Zelinskyy, an invitation to attend Parliament went out from the Speaker of the House to an elderly Ukrainian man living in his constituency who happened to be a WWII veteran. He was feted in the House of Commons as a valorous combatant against the evil of fascism, leading to two standing ovations. Even President Zelenskyy rose from his seat to hail 99-year-old Yaroslav Hunka as a war hero. 

He was, in fact, a member of the 14th SS Galician which fought as volunteers with the Axis in a Division that swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler. When Jewish and Polish groups revealed the awkward truth that Hunka served in a Ukrainian SS unit, the news circulated wildly and widely of Canada's lack of WWII memory and its government's ignorance of the sacrifices made by its own military to free Europe and the world from the threat of fascist domination of the world order.

Ex-Waffen SS soldier Yaroslav Hunka's appearance in Parliament became an embarrassment to the Trudeau government, the result of which was jeering from abroad and outraged emails sent to the House of Commons by Canadians provoked into disbelief that their government leaders could be so witless.The chastising comments of some of those emails condemning the appearance of the elderly man were released under Access to Information law when all members of the House offered two standing ovations for the former Waffen SS soldier.

House Speaker Anthony Rota took complete responsibility for the contretemps and resigned his post. That Hunka had fought against Allied forces during the Second World War seemed obvious to those paying attention, but all those present in Parliament that day were obviously not paying attention. With the release of the  documents, including condemnatory emails with names of senders redacted, Canada faced responsibility of embarrassment emanating from the source of its public voters.

 

Soviet and German officers are having a friendly conversation in the newly captured Polish city of Brest, September 1939. This photo was taken during a joint Soviet – German military parade in Brest, Sep. 22, 1939. This photo was taken during a joint Soviet – German military parade in Brest, Sep. 22, 1939.

That members of the Waffen SS were able to enter Canada following the war left some speechless. But Canada was well known to have become a North American haven for former Nazi German war criminals, and Ukrainians who joined them as allies were given the same entry opportunities by Canadian governments that failed to pay attention then, as they do now. The British government, post-WWII, was involved in releasing imprisoned members of the unit they balked at having on British soil, sending them instead to Canada.

In a report from 1948, British government official Beryl Hughes discussed plans to send SS members to Canada: "What little we know of their war record is bad", he wrote, while handling the issue for Britain's Home Office. "We're still hoping to get rid of the less-desirable Ukrainian PoWs either to Germany or Canada". And to Canada they came. Some members of the wider Ukrainian-Canadian community still worship those Axis-aligned Ukrainians as war heroes. Statues erected to their honour in Canada remain to this day.

The monument to Roman Shukhevych, commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army from 1943 until his death in 1950, has stood at the entrance of the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in North Edmonton, Alberta, since mid-1970s. Shukhevych is lionized by some for his fight for Ukrainian independence against Poland, the Soviet Union and later Germany. But critics of the monument say it glorifies a Nazi henchman who sided with Germany in hopes of winning independence for Ukraine.Photo: (Photo courtesy of John-Paul Himka)