Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would like to end the war with Russia next year through “diplomatic means” as both countries prepare for President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
In an interview with the Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne, Zelenskyy said he is certain that the war will end “sooner” than it otherwise would have once Mr. Trump becomes president.
The prospect of Trump returning to power in the United States next year has raised questions about the future of the conflict, as the Republican has been critical of U.S. military aid to Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “must do everything so that this war ends next year, ends through diplomatic means.”
What he likely means “ending the war by diplomatic means” is not talking or negotiating with Russia. No, that would be worst heresy imaginable. When he has previously talked about the use of diplomacy to find peace, what he really means is for Ukraine redouble it’s efforts to beg for more money and weapons, but also get US and Europe to put more pressure on countries like China and India to ditch Putin and support Ukraine instead. Zelensky has talked along these lines before. Make his position seem reasonable to those who who want Ukraine to seek settlement, when it really isn’t any different from “Zelensky’s peace plan” that can be summed up in demand Russia’s unconditional surrender as a precondition to any kind of dialogue.
I fear it’s this kinda crazy talk that we are looking at. Zelensky or his inner circle just bring themselves to talk to the Russians, nor can they talk about things like giving up even places like Crimea. They just can’t give an inch and we all know what happens to the reeds that don’t bend with wind.
Zelenskyy literally cannot advocate for negotiated peace. The Right wing nationalist elements of Ukraine’s coalition will effectively murder him if that becomes his position. It remains to be seen what will happen to him when he’s forced into it by the reality of the war and the waning of international support by his patron states.
He’s likely just going to flee to US or UK in the end.
He could’ve fled long ago if he wanted instead of facing the risk and staying. I respect him for that.
He has to stay till the last moment if he wants to keep political power. He’s not in any personal danger.
No chance of help to protect his homeland from belligerent invasion? You’ve got to cut the losses.
Then Russia can invade in another 10 years and take more. Yay! It can be an every-decade thing!
He is not “protecting his homeland”. He is flying around the world telling people that he does that, that he protects democracy and so on, while people are trapped in his prison, kidnapped off the streets and sent to the meatgrinder.
When I read comments like this I do wonder if there’s any point trying to reason. You either are too far indoctrinated or just reading the script.
The idea that it is possible to “diplomacy” your way out of conflict with a dictator is so absurd I want to laugh my ass off, but unfortunately it isn’t funny at all.
Putin will happily send every last Russian in to the meat grinder before he accept defeat, and now that he has his American buddy back in place, now with added musk funds, it is seriously delusional to think the situation is going to do anything other than escalate.
Zelenskyy is being beyond naive at best (I honestly don’t believe he believes in what he’s saying).
I don’t think he’s being naive, he knows Trump is going to hang him out to dry, and he can’t win without ongoing US support. So if he’s come to the conclusion that defeat is inevitable, or at least that victory is impossible, then it makes sense to start posturing to that effect, to try to get the best outcome possible later at the negotiating table.
Well, I suppose bending over for a couple of dictators to fuck you (but more importantly, your people, and then who ever those two decide to invade next) is a kind of posture… 🙄
conflict with a dictator
Only one of these leaders is unelected, and it’s not the one you think.
Putin will happily send every last Russian in to the meat grinder before he accept defeat
I doubt that, but its moot since Russia would inevitably win this war of attrition without having to do it. Also, the whole Russian meat grinder/meat wave thing is just recycled WWII Nazi war propaganda BS.
now that he has his American buddy back in place
CIA “Cooked The Intelligence” To Hide That Russia Favored Clinton, Not Trump In 2016
now with added musk funds
Right, Enron Musk is personally keeping the Russian economy afloat with his own money 😂 This one really takes the cake.
What’s it like in that Tank? Is the bread and vodka good? How’s the heating?
Logistically, how should Ukraine have held an election earlier this year, on account of dealing with an active invasion and contested territory?
I don’t know. How should Ukraine have held an election when it has banned eleven political parties? Ukraine had a US-backed coup ten years ago[1][2]. It is nothing close to a democracy.
Ok but that doesn’t change that they’re being actively invaded by Russia right now. That does tend to put a pretty big damper on a country’s ability to conduct secure elections.
Do you believe the elections in Russia are held fairly? I was under the impression that there are a lot of issues with political repression and electrical fraud, but admit that some of those notions could be more propaganda than reality. I’ll be reading more into Russian electoral politics and history in the meanwhile.
From what I read so far, it looks like Russia actually did hold elections for their own government within occupied Ukrainian territory. I’m not sure what to make of that.
Do you believe the elections in Russia are held fairly?
Putin seems to be genuinely popular, so how fair the last presidential election was is somewhat moot. I think he had a clear majority regardless. Russians have good reason to like him: he kicked the Western capitalist neoliberal shock therapy plunderers out of the country. It’s still a capitalist shithole, but at least it’s their shithole and not a neocolonized state anymore.
it looks like Russia actually did hold elections for their own government within occupied Ukrainian territory.
I can’t speak to the quality of those elections. Eastern Ukraine had been in a civil war with western Ukraine for almost a decade, and many eastern Ukrainians wanted a Russian intervention, but I’m no expert and couldn’t say what percentage wanted one. Back in 2014, Crimea was very easy to annex, because most Crimeans wanted to be annexed. And they fared better than their friends to their north, who suffered almost a decade of attacks by western Ukrainian Banderites.
How to say you’re historically illiterate without saying you’re historically illiterate. 👆
Oh wow, you got the tankies to come out in force
Wtf is with you people claiming you know what’s best for these countries? Its like you’re larping as the us state dept.
I’m not sure who “you people” are, but at no point did I claim to know what’s best, but I sure as fuck know, from knowing history and paying attention, that tyranny doesn’t go away by asking nicely. Never has, never will.
So a better question would be wtf is with you claiming you know anything at all about global conflict or fascism? Its like you’re
larping asa wilfully ignorant and overly confident centrist who is happy to lay others lives on the line and let war rage on as long as we aren’t mean to a dictator. 🙄Yes we know Zelensky is an unelected dictator. You don’t need to project.
Lmfao, where did I even imply that? Talk about projecting… 😂😂😂
So I don’t know how the Russian/Ukrainian war is going to go. I mean Trump is such a wild card it’s hard to say. But I want to point out that your comment:
that tyranny doesn’t go away by asking nicely. Never has, never will.
Is very wrong. The weirdest thing is you state if you’re paying attention. Well, if you’re paying any attention what so ever, you’ll see that tyranny regularly gets displaced by asking nicely. In fact, in recent history we have South Korea with a peaceful democratic transfer, Taiwan which also had a peaceful democratic transfer, Singapore and many others. And that’s just recent history. Let alone all the Kingdoms that were displaced by democracy in history such as the UK. Heck, the UK still has a monarch and yet run in a democracy because of how peaceful the transfer was. Thailand as well. I could go on, but I think you get the point. In fact one of the MOST COMMON ways to go from Monarchy/Dictatorship to democracy is a peaceful transfer. Obviously that doesn’t always happen, but it’s quite common to simply ask nicely.
*Edit: Actually Ukraine ITSELF was a peaceful transfer from tyranny to democracy. That’s the REASON Putin is angry and jealous of them. I mean you don’t even have to look outside of the combatants to see a peaceful transfer. Which is gone now, but that doesn’t take away that it happened.
All I can say to this bizarre reply is that the whitewashed version of history (never mind current events, since some of those conflicts are still ongoing, violently, today) you were taught at school, or hear about in the msm isn’t the reality, and that none of those conflicts were fucking peaceful, or came to a conclusion because those in power just decided to give it up.
Pick up a fucking book (or watch a video, or listen to a podcast, however you take information in, go and do that, but only if you can cope with challenging your bias, otherwise it becomes a completely pointless exercise)
E: Like, honestly, do you seriously believe there is any point in talking to Putin? Do you think an open and proud totalitarian known for throwing his opponents out of windows is a trustworthy person who will have good faith and stay true to his word? Do you fucking hear yourself???
When you don’t know any history perhaps you should read first then comment.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Democratic_Struggle
As I said, S.Korea is just one example where peaceful protests brought democracy.
Ah yes, peaceful, if you erase the Gwang-ju Massacre and other atrocities committed by “The Butcher” Chun Doo-Hwan.
The rights enjoyed by South Koreans were fought for with the blood of workers and students spilled by their own government and Capitalists. Don’t erase them.
Nice try but you don’t get to argue that a protest over 7 years ago and is unrelated caused the peaceful transfer.
I mean you might as well argue that the blood of Americans were spilled for their freedoms in BLM, Kansas State Massacre, the Chicago fire. Oh wait, those protests massacres happened AFTER USA was a democracy. It’s almost like they’re not related to being a democracy or not and the June protests weren’t part of that massacre because it’s a 7 YEAR gap.
Putin will happily send every last Russian in to the meat grinder before he accept defeat
Funny, because it’s exactly the same with Zelensky and unfortunate Ukrainians who haven’t managed to escape his regime.
Yeah, if either leader’s army would just leave Ukraine, the war would instantly be over.
That’s what the negotiations are for
Good news. Hopefully the bloodshed can be ended as soon as possible.
Shitlibs want endless war in Ukraine, till the last Ukrainian is dead.
So it looks like it’s finally happening?
The best time to take ceasefire was before.
The second best time is now
The US won’t allow it, the same way they didn’t allow it the previous times.
The US is clearly starting to distance itself from project Ukraine now. That said, I don’t expect that the US will alter its stance to simply admit that Russia has won. The most probable scenario is that Russia and the US will secretly negotiate a behind-the-scenes agreement, and the US will just cut aid to Ukraine while continuing to publicly engage in verbal posturing. The US admin will say that it has more pressing concerns with China and the Middle East, and it’s now time for Europe to step up and assume a larger role. However, everyone knows that Europe is not any position to do so. Therefore, the conflict will likely end on Russian terms without the US openly admitting defeat. As an added bonus, the US will secure lucrative military contracts with European nations for decades to come.
The best reason to end any war is to ask how everyone can just stop killing one another.
This is modern day civilization, not the barbarian hordes of Europe 1500 years ago.
We have a choice to act civilized or like our ignorant ancestors from thousands of years ago.
ask yourself in whose interest is it to continue this insane war.
(Military corporations in the US and Russia)
And let’s not forget Russia’s support from that batch. This war is just another money scheme
War is a necessity as long as Imperialism remains the dominant contradiction in the world, we need to move beyond Capitalism to move beyond war.
What’s the better alternative to capitalism?
Socialism. I wrote an intro reading list for Marxism if you want to check it out.
Why should my lazy neighbour get the same as me when I work harder or smarter? There in lies the problem with pure socialism… socialised democracy ( i.e. capitalism with based services for all) is the only palletable stance in that direction.
That’s not what Socialism is, or even Communism. In every existing Socialist state, people have gotten higher or lower pay for different levels of intensity or skill. If getting paid the same is “the problem with pure socialism” then it sounds like it’s all cleared up!
Secondly, Social Democracy still relies on Capitalism, which necessarily moves in the direction of increased disparity and centralization of power in fewer and fewer hands. Moreover, as companies spread internationally, Capitalism turns to Imperialism, whereby workers in the Global South are paid a fraction of the wages a worker in the Global North would be paid. This form of hyper-exploitation for super-profits results in dramatically unequal exchange and underdevelopment. Socialism is the way forward, beyond this system of exploitation and eventual collapse.
I really recommend you give at least the first section of my reading list a try.
Thousand years from now, the same statement will be made of us. We humans change little.
Humans change quite a bit depending on Mode of Production, which shapes culture and norms.
I absolutely disagree. Lots of history proves that we are still motivated by primal instincts of self preservation. It always comes down to that.
However, the way these primal instincts are expressed obviously changes based on the rules of societies we create. USSR and post-Soviet Russia serves as a perfect real world example. The same people who generally acted in the interest of society under socialist structures quickly learned how to become oligarchs under the capitalist set of rules. In effect, the way society is structured acts as a selection pressure for human behavior.
Lots of history proves that humans behaved differently based on the economic system in place. Why do you believe slavery has largely been abolished? Did humans suddenly change their minds about it?
You’re thinking to high level. I’m talking about what actually drives us. Slavery has been largely abolished (but not really) because it’s out of fashion. We haven’t fundamentally changed the way we think. We’re far more alike our ancient ancestors than we think.
What drives us ultimately is our material conditions. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you. BTW, Harris’ dad is a Marxist, which is where I’m sure her comment sprang from.
No, slavery was abolished because of technological progress and changes in Mode of Production. I’m thinking in a Historical Materialist perspective, there wasn’t a random beaming of empathy in humanity.
Slavery still exists in multiple different forms tho
Whatever, you’re missing the point.
I wonder how Zionist Biden would feel -if it all- once Russia annexes parts of Ukraine. Probably how he felt about Israel annexing Palestinian and Syrian lands. His underling Blinken even defended Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.
