The Last Days of NATO's Emperor Zelenskyy

Dec. 14—Sources close to the White House and others in Europe report that time is running out for NATO’s Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that he is considering accepting a deal offered him by people close to President Donald Trump that would allow for his political exit, with amnesty from prosecution of crimes committed by his massively corrupt government.

These sources say that Zelenskyy’s tactics of delaying any peace deal have run their course, as word is leaking through to the Ukrainian people about devastating losses of strategic points on the frontlines, messages carried back from deserting and wounded soldiers. The absurd contention, publicly promoted by Zelenskyy, that Ukraine is holding its own when its forces are being routed while suffering huge casualties, whose manpower cannot be replaced, has been promoted in recent rounds of talks with the Americans, led by Trump Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. It has been met with derision from the Americans, these sources report, as it will be if it is restated in the latest round of talks now underway in Berlin.

European Demands Block Peace

The European leadership of NATO has lost its gambit of provoking a war with Russia in Ukraine over the alliance’s advance to the east, that was to include Ukraine, said a source close to the White House. “Trump now categorically rejects this strategy, which was supported by the Biden administration. Still Europe professes that Ukraine is winning, that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has been weakened, and the Russian economy will collapse if the war continues. It is this insane strategic assessment that blocks moves towards peace. Zelenskyy and the E-3 Euro Fools [Friederich Merz, the German chancellor, Sir Keith Starmer, the British Prime Minister, and French President Emmanuel Macron] demand that Russia make concessions, that it release territory now part of the Russian Federation, that it allow for Ukraine to join NATO, or that it make any agreement a treaty passed by Congress, providing unlimited security guarantees to Ukraine. 

"They have even suggested that NATO be a signatory of the peace agreement and that Russia agree to pay reparations. Neither Trump nor Putin will accept this, so no progress is made.”

The source said that Trump authorized the release of the National Security Strategy 2025 (NSS) to deliver a clear message to the Europeans and Zelenskyy about what U.S. policy would be. “The Russians already knew this, as it was implicit in the discussions with Putin in the Alaska summit,” said the source. “Now the Europeans see it in writing: the U.S. national interest and stated European policy towards NATO and Russia are at odds with each other. The U.S. intends to end the war, period, and repair its relations with Moscow.”

Corruption Scandals and Election Pressure

“There is another factor for Zelenskyy,” said a source with knowledge of the situation. “The corruption scandals which claimed his top dog [Andriy] Yermak are going to touch him. He has more to worry about because the Americans can pursue a full accounting of what happened with all the money and weapons that were provided to Ukraine—they do this with the knowledge that Zelenskyy’s cronies, including Yermak, sold off tens of billions of dollars in arms and munitions in what is the world’s largest black market arms bazaar. There is no way that Zelenskyy can recover from this.”

There is already talk of holding new Presidential elections, said the source, even if there is no immediate deal. The Russians would agree to a ceasefire to allow this to take place. Trump demanded that an election be part of any peace plan, and Zelenskyy cannot resist this. Zelenskyy has had some private polls taken, as have some of the media agencies. He has claimed that the polls show that the majority of Ukrainians do not want to concede the Russians any territory. What is not reported is that Ukrainians support concessions if it is necessary to end the war. But Zelenskyy also has some other polling data: the vast majority of Ukrainians do not want him to run for a new term.

Ceasefire Proposals Rejected

Starmer organized a call Dec. 10 with Trump, for himself, Merz, and Macron, in which they pushed their non-starter demand for an immediate ceasefire. In tandem with Starmer’s “ceasefire” tactic, Zelenskyy proposed another “energy truce” with Moscow. Ukraine had agreed to one in March, whereby both sides would refrain from attacking energy infrastructure, but there were repeated violations, convincing Moscow that such an approach led nowhere.

In response, Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev posted on Dec. 10 that “Zelenskyy and U.K. & EU warmongers trying again the trick with a temporary ceasefire that does not resolve all key outstanding issues and does not provide for a long-term peace solution. As President Trump wrote after Alaska Summit: [https://x.com/kadmitriev/status/1956682365687759249] ‘Aug 16 BREAKING: @POTUS “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”’”

Separately, when asked about Zelenskyy’s “energy truce,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov simply stated that a “stable, guaranteed, long-term peace, achieved through the signing of appropriate documents, is an absolute priority,” rather than a ceasefire. Russia “is working on peace in Ukraine, not a truce.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Dec. 11 was flabbergasted at the simple report from Merz’s spokesman, Stefan Kornelius, that the four had discussed only “a ceasefire in Ukraine. Just that.” Speaking in Moscow to 96 ambassadors and representatives of international organizations gathered to discuss Ukraine, he continued: “Europe is not interested in anything else. Meanwhile, Russia insists on agreeing on a package of measures to achieve solid, sustainable, and lasting peace with security guarantees for all the parties.”

“Ukraine needs peace on decent terms, and we are ready to work as constructively as possible. These days will be filled with diplomacy. It’s very important that it brings results,” Zelenskyy said Dec. 12.