Trump wants to hand over Zelensky’s head to Putin. Europe resists
The rings
Trump sent the Witkoff-Dmitriev project to Volodymyr Zelensky. Skillfully, the Ukrainian president praised Trump, his peace effort, and pretended not to be desperate. He ran to ask Europe for help.
Initially excluded from the ball, the European Union responded to Trump and forced the meeting to take place over the weekend in Geneva. A summit was promoted between the USA, the European Union and Ukraine. On the table, the Witkoff-Dmitriev plan.
In desperation, President Zelensky, cornered and dependent on US weapons, admitted, for a future agreement, the handing over of territories, but with a clause of fact and not of law. Putin wants “de jure” annexation.
The effects are diverse. Once a ‘de jure’ agreement is reached, the territory becomes definitively Russian. Although Ukraine cannot maintain the territories, acceptance will in fact give rise to the possibility of claiming in the future. Therefore, Russia intends, in the agreement, to impose the Russian language in the four districts conquered with military force: Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaprizhzhia.
The position of the Europeans, in the aforementioned weekend meeting in Geneva, gave Zelensky hope. Europe is at risk from Russian expansion. For the European Union, there is a security issue and high strategic risk. It therefore needs to get tougher and even stop buying Russian oil and gas.
Furthermore, it needs to start using the 300 billion euros of Russian reserves frozen in European banks. The amount is unavailable and Trump, in the Witkoff-Dmitriev plan, is considering using it, in part, for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Logic: reconstruction with American companies making profits.
The European Union, with strong positions from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Poland and the Baltic countries, disapproves of the Witkoff-Dmitriev draft. With Ukraine, they are preparing a new plan that will be analyzed by President Trump.
G8: Russian Tour
For many analysts, Trump intends to move Putin to his side. The goal would be to isolate China. Once peace was concluded with Ukraine, the USA would place Russia back in the current G7, which would become the G8 again.
Trump did not accept the Russian proposal to disarm Ukraine, but proposed a reduction in military personnel. Of the current 900,000 Ukrainian fighters, there would be a reduction to 600,000.
Another point that pleased Putin was preventing Ukraine from joining NATO.
Trump only accepts Ukraine’s entry into the European Union. As for not joining NATO, the Witkoff-Dmitriev project proposes an express prohibition in the Constitution of Ukraine.
Another Russian demand that prevailed in the draft refers to the immediate holding of presidential elections, as Zelensky’s mandate was extended due to the war.
NATO and the dreaded article 5
NATO’s great strength lies in the rule that all member states come to the defense of the wholesale.
The Europeans in Geneva proposed a special foreign force to protect Ukraine. This in the hypothesis of Russian aggression. Thus, the US would be responsible for militarily defending Ukraine. It would be like an adaptation of the aforementioned article 5. of NATO rules.
In short, the Witkoff-Dmitriev plan is unacceptable. It clearly results in the capitulation of Ukraine. And Trump, to please and try to co-opt Putin, hands over Zelensky’s head on a platter, as if he were John the Baptist from biblical times.
