Zelenskyy Told: Make A Deal Now, Or Your Are on Your Own

Dec. 30—Some very stupid people who call themselves analysts spend their time parsing the public utterances in “Great Power” diplomacy to see if they can divine what might be happening or is going to happen. More experienced people look beyond the public words to circumstances, and then, checking various hypotheses with sources and knowledge of current and historical contexts, know that what must be happening is often directly conflicting with the public image and postures of the participants in these events.

In the case of the annoying little punk who serves as NATO’s dictator of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, sober analysts know that his days are numbered, as the lying propaganda that is put out about Russia suffering major losses on the battlefield is coming into stark conflict with the reality of the battlefield—Russia has already defeated NATO’s proxy Ukraine, and the only question is how bad that defeat will be, and whether Ukraine will accept President Donald Trump’s offer of a brokered peace, or whether Zelenskyy or some other Ukrainian, perhaps one of its senior generals, signs a surrender document, with harsher terms for Ukraine than Trump has achieved already.

Trump Issues Ultimatum: Make the Deal or Be Abandoned

So while Zelenskyy, talking with the press at various points before and after his meeting with Trump and members of Trump’s team at Mar-a-Lago, made it seem that he and Trump were on the same team, it was Trump who was issuing the demands, and Zelenskyy having to take it, like it or not. Sources close to the White House report that Trump has given the little dictator an ultimatum—“Reach a deal with the Russians on the terms I am offering, or the United States walks away from you and lets Russia destroy you. If you do not make this deal within the next month, don’t later come running to me to save you and your family.”

The terms that the Russians will accept—“because they have come from me, Trump”—include Ukraine abandoning its NATO ambitions for all time; the ceding of the remaining land held by Ukraine in the east, in the Donbas, and recognition that the four oblasts in the east, as well as the Crimea, are now permanently part of Russia; that Ukraine is to be neutral, and does not require a large, aggressive military, and that its military will be limited to a few hundred thousand; that, if there are to be peacekeepers to prevent new hostilities, they cannot be from NATO member states. As for the security guarantees, whatever is offered Ukraine is also offered the Russians—on this, what will emerge is the enforcement of a non-aggression pact, in which the Russians will also agree not to attack western Europe. Zelenskyy wants these guarantees to last 50 years, but Zelenskyy will be forced to accept whatever the Russians accept.

Zelenskyy, despite his public face smiling, was not a happy camper, reported the source. “But he knows that Trump means business. That he wants peace and wants the reconstruction of the Ukraine to be cooperative and give people their lives back, both in what remains of the Ukrainian nation, and in what people around Zelenskyy call the Russian Zone.”

Putin–Trump Coordination Shapes the Framework

The conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the strategy and provided some clarity on what he, Putin, was looking for from the Ukrainians. That then became the baseline for an agreement, at least at this advanced stage, said the source. “Remember, there has been much work on this by Trump’s team led by [Special Envoy] Steve [Witkoff] and [presidential son-in-law] Jared [Kushner] and the Russians, and with the Ukrainians, not so much with Zelenskyy himself. When Trump was saying a deal was close it was based on what he knows the Russians and Ukrainians have already agreed to, and what he, Trump, has put on the table to resolve the remaining issues. That’s where the idea of territory in Donbas that Kyiv must concede being a ‘free enterprise zone’ came from. Putin does not like it, but he could compromise to make the deal work.”

“One thing needs to be said about the Europeans,” the source continues. “Trump says nice things about their leaders in public, but he thinks they are saboteurs, and if they had stayed out of this, there would have already been a deal. Quite frankly, he does not give a rat’s ass about what they want or think. They could all walk off a short pier, and the world would be a better place. When Zelenskyy brings up their concerns, Trump tells him he is not interested. They are not a party to these negotiations—it’s you, me, and Putin.”

Drone Attack Sparks Fury and Raises Stakes

“Trump believes that the Europeans were behind the attempted Ukrainian drone attack yesterday on one of Putin’s dachas,” the source said. “Trump did not know about it until he was confronted with the information by Putin in his second phone call, after the Zelenskyy meeting. He became visibly angry, denouncing the Ukrainians and the Europeans. He immediately called Zelenskyy who claimed to know nothing about it and termed it fake Russian propaganda. At that point he would have ripped the little dictator’s head off if he had been in the same room: ‘Are you a fucking moron? Do you think Putin would play that kind of game with me? You idiot.’ He said that he needed to tell the truth—did he, Zelenskyy, authorize this attack? He said he did not. ‘Then you better get the fuck control of this, or there will be no deal.’”

“This is not the right time,” Trump told the press yesterday about the drone incursion. “It’s one thing to be offensive, it’s another thing to attack his house. I was very angry about it.”

Trump also commented that it was a good thing that he had refused to give Kyiv Tomahawk cruise missiles. "Now you can see why that would have been a disaster," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued a statement Dec. 29 on the attack and Russia’s response. “On the night of December 28–29, the Kiev regime launched a terrorist attack using 91 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the state residence of the President of the Russian Federation in the Novgorod Region. All the UAVs were destroyed by the air defense systems of the Russian Armed Forces,” with no casualties or damage from drone debris reported.

Lavrov emphasized: “Notably, the attack was carried out during the intensive talks to settle the Ukrainian conflict between Russia and the U.S. … Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” he asserted, reporting that the targets for retaliatory strikes and their timing have already been determined, without giving any details.

“Despite this attack, we have no intention to withdraw from the negotiations with the U.S.,” he declared, adding, “However, given the utmost degeneration of the criminal Kiev regime, which has shifted to a policy of state terrorism, Russia’s negotiating position will be reviewed.” He did not elaborate how.

Zelenskyy spent the day denying that his military services would ever do such a thing, and demanding, “President Trump, his team, and the Europeans should intervene and do the necessary work with those people [i.e., Russia], who just yesterday said that they truly want to end the war.”

“Several in Trump’s team would wish that the Russians hit 10 Downing Street,” said the source.

Negotiations Continue as Dmitriev Remains in Miami

Meanwhile, negotiations will continue with the Trump team and the Russians and the Ukrainians to hammer out workable terms. Russia’s chief negotiator Kirill Dmitriev, who is close to Putin, remains in Miami, where he was caught on camera surfing while Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy was taking place. Sources report that he was there to give immediate feedback on what was being discussed and negotiated.