Renee Parsons
In what was originally billed as a one-on-one Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss a possible peace agreement, the meeting almost immediately deteriorated into many conflicting contradictions with an expansion of US involvement in the Ukraine war.
Despite being formally welcomed by Trump as if a duly elected member of the Ukraine government and referred to as its President, Zelensky is no longer a constitutional officer having suspended elections in Ukraine and is no longer entitled to sign a legal peace agreement.
Proposed by Trump after his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the unilateral meeting with Zelensky was to discuss the potential of adopting a peace agreement as preferable to a temporary ceasefire which would not lead to peace but would provide Zelensky an opportunity to rearm.
As the Oval Office meeting began, Trump’s expectation that “If everything works out well today” could lead to a trilateral meeting to include Putin was never in the cards and always out of the question. Clearly, Trump was speaking ‘off the cuff” without conveying that message to Putin.
After more than six months on the job, it has become undeniable that Trump is not a diplomat, nor does he exhibit a President’s unique quality of leadership. By the time Zelensky completed his two hour presentation in support of a continuation in Ukraine, Trump had sufficiently walked away from the promise of peace he had appeared to favor during the Alaska Summit.
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In addition, awaiting Trump and Zelensky was a group of EU Members who arrived with their own agenda to crowd their way into the White House in an effort to sway Trump away from a path of peace and follow their continuation of the war.
Specifically uninvited were German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer , Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, President of Finland Alexander Stubb including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte all in attendance to support Zelensky’s efforts.
Trump would have been within his rights to pointedly show the European interlopers the front door but instead allowed the Zelensky-Trump meeting to be disrupted as it attempted to woo Trump away from Alaska into accepting a temporary ceasefire which Zelensky and the Europeans continue to endorse.
Trump was asked to comment on the presence of seven EU leaders and what they need to see to end the war. “ We will be meeting with a great representative group, seven very powerful and big countries, they’re friends of mine and friends of yours. We’re going to have suggestions made, they want to see peace. They want peace.”
The fact that the EU hustled their way into the Ukraine issue is stark reminder of fiscal difficulties that can allegedly be aided by a war-economy.
Also in attendance in the Oval Office was war hawk and former US Gen. Keith Kellogg who had served as a Trump Ukraine advisor.
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As the media began their questions, Trump reiterated a Truth Social statement that “President Zelensky can end the war with Russia immediately if he wants to” without following up on the opportunity to encourage Zelensky to do just that immediately, right then and there, on the spot.
Instead Trump missed a valuable opportunity, responding with “I think that’s true. If everything works out well today, we’re going to have a trilateral and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that.”
Zelinsky then endorsed Trump’s trilateral announcement as Trump failed to grasp that Putin had no incentive to participate in a discussion about a war that Russia has already won.
When asked whether this was the end of the road for American support for Ukraine, Trump surprisingly responded “I can never say that. People are being killed and we want to stop that.” Rather than endorse a peace agreement, Trump reverted back to “this is not my war, it is Joe Biden’s war” despite the fact that Trump has allowed the war to continue with US funding and US weapons since his inauguration.
Trump continued to dig his hole deeper with each question: would Trump be “willing to send American peacekeepers to Ukraine.”
Trump responded in a way that left the door open: ‘we’re going to work with Ukraine, we’re going to work with everybody and we’re going to make sure if there is peace, the peace is going to stay long term, this is very long term. We’re not talking about a two year peace and then we end up in this mess again. We’ll make sure everything’s good. We’re going to work with Russia, we’re going to work with Ukraine.”
The next question further muddied the waters with “could security guarantees involve US troops. Have you ruled that out in the future?”
Shockingly, as if there might suddenly be a role for US military, Trump responded “We’ll let you know later today. We’ll be meeting with seven great leaders from great countries and we’ll be talking about that. They’ll be involved. There will be a lot of help. It’s going to be good. There will be a lot of help when it comes to security. They’re the first line of defense, because they are there. But we’re going to help them out also, we’ll be involved.”
Another question: “Vladimir Putin has mentioned the war will not end without addressing the root causes of this war. Do you have an understanding of the root causes of this war?”
In another display lacking in self awareness : “Well, look. The war is going to end. When it ends I can’t tell you but this gentleman wants it to end (nodding to Zelensky), Vladimir Putin wants it to end. I think the whole world is tired of it and we’re going to get it ended. I’ve ended six wars and I thought maybe this would be the easiest one and it’s not the easiest one. It’s a tough one….a lot of reasons for it and they’ll be talking about it for a long time. “
Trump then claimed to solve wars between India and Pakistan and between the Republic of the Congo’s thirty year was with Ruwanda as well as claiming what he believes was “total obliteration of future nuclear capability” in Iran. Trump expressed confidence that ‘we’re going to get this one solved.”
One reporter reminded Trump that he had warned of “severe consequences if a thirty day ceasefire” were not agreed to by Russia.
Trump responded that “i don’t think you need a cease fire; it might be good to have” pointing to other conflicts solved without a ceasefire. “I like the concept of a ceasefire because you stop killing people for one week or what it takes.”
Another zinger about adopting an Article 5-like NATO security guarantee without full NATO membership?
Missing an opportunity to dismiss NATO, Trump responded: “We haven’t done anything on that yet…if you look back, even before President Putin, there was a statement that NATO would never be allowed into Ukraine. We’re going to be discussing it today but we will give them very good protection, very good security; that’s part of it and the people we are meeting with later I think they are like minded; they want to help out also. “
Zelensky responded that Ukraine now has the ability to provide funds, “some money to finance”, buying US weapons in order to rearm; thanking the US and the European community. Trump added that “We’re not giving anything ; we’re selling weapons.”
In other words, as much as Trump condemns the killing, he is willing, if the price is right, to sell US weapons to NATO.
Trump went off on a rant “We make the best military equipment in the world, by far. You mention the Patriot, how good are they? We have systems that are 100 % foolproof. So we sell the equipment to NATO and NATO does the business. I don’t know what arrangement is but they pay us for the equipment.
When asked what Ukraine needs to continue the war, is it American troops, intelligence, equipment? Zelensky responded “all of it” as he outlined an extensive wish list for a forever war in Ukraine. “it depends on big countries; the US and Europeans.”
When asked about the US providing NATO-like protection to get Ukraine to a deal today, Trump dug his hole deeper with “I don’t know if I define it that way. We have people waiting in the other room, they’re all here. The biggest people in Europe. They want to give protection, they feel very strongly about it and we’ll help them out with it, I think it is important to get the deal done. “
In other words, Trump has little to no understanding that NATO involvement in Ukraine continues to be the most essential part of why the Russians began the Special Military Operation in 2022.
Since that earlier interview, the possibility of US air support has been raised as part of a security guarantee although denying full NATO membership to Ukraine. Trump’s national security team which is dominated by war hawks has been charged with creating “a framework for these security guarantees that can be acceptable to help ensure a lasting peace and end this war.”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte suggested that US involvement in the Ukraine war would be considered a ‘break through’ without acknowledging that US involvement would threaten a Peace Agreement.
While NATO remains a military alliance that initiates war, originally organized to address the threat of then-USSR as an adversary of the US and western Europe.
Today with dissolution of the USSR replaced by the Russian Federation, there is no need for a military presence along the Ukraine-Russian border yet neo-con supporters of the military industrial industry refuse to acknowledge that the politics have changed.
In conclusion, there is little doubt that Trump failed to recognize any distinctions between the Alaska Summit outcome and Oval Office discussion with Zelensky.
Trump said that he had spoken ‘indirectly’ with Putin about the possibility of a trilateral meeting between Trump, Zelensky and the Russian President and that he would speak with Putin after the meeting. “If we don’t have a trilateral, then the fighting continues.”
As any peace agreement between the US and Russia fades into the sunset, it might be expected that Russia will intensify its offense and bring the war to a final conclusion.
Renee Parsons has been an elected public official in Colorado, an environmental lobbyist with Friends of the Earth and a staff member in the US House of Representative in Washington, DC. Before its demise, she was also a member of the ACLU’s Florida State Board of Directors and President of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She is a regular contributor to Global Research.