Trump Team and Zelensky Both Just Confirmed Big Move to Try and End Ukraine War
There's a meme that I think must be famous at this point when it comes to President Donald Trump.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Elon Musk posted a version of it earlier this week.
We're at the "here" part of the diagram, where it comes back around to Trump.
There was a blow-up in the White House last week when Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to try to renegotiate things in front of the public at what was supposed to be a signing of a mineral deal. That created a firestorm, and the left naturally blamed Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Trump wasn't having any of that, and after strong words, Zelensky appeared to at least come back to reality a little bit, announcing he wanted peace and putting out some conciliatory words, saying he wanted to sign the mineral deal. I think after he realized that Trump wasn't going to be played and his other option was having to rely solely on the EU, he came to his senses, at least a bit.
Now, there appears to be big movement toward a peace deal in Ukraine.
Senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials are planning to meet next week to discuss the first steps of a deal to end the war.
Both President Trump's team and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine confirmed the meeting, which is expected to take place in Saudi Arabia.
“Ukrainian and American teams have resumed work, and we hope that next week we will have a meaningful meeting,” Mr. Zelensky said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr. Zelensky said that Ukraine would send a delegation to meet with “military representatives of countries that are ready to make greater efforts to reliably guarantee security within the framework of ending this war.”
President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, also confirmed the meeting, saying the purpose was "to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial cease-fire as well.”
Witkoff indicated that Zelensky had bent the knee trying to repair the damage.
“President Zelensky has demonstrated that he’s intent on that good-faith path back. He’s apologized. He’s said he’s grateful. He said he wants to work toward peace.” Mr. Witkoff added that he believed Mr. Zelensky was willing to sign a minerals deal to create a U.S.-controlled fund that would receive revenue from Ukraine’s natural resources.
Trump himself also weighed in to reporters at the White House.
He said U.S. negotiators had “made a lot of progress with Ukraine and a lot of progress with Russia over the last couple of days" and showed optimism about a peace agreement.
He said Ukraine "wants to make a deal because I don’t think they have a choice." But he also said in another way, Russia had no choice either.
Now, that sounds like big movement, especially compared to where they were last week, and, as I said, hold onto your hats and maybe cross your fingers too, but at this point, it's sounding like it's all moving in the right direction.
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