Last week, President Donald Trump achieved another milestone in his diplomatic endeavors, successfully mediating a historic peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
This achievement comes after his successful efforts in resolving long-standing conflicts between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia and Thailand, and India and Pakistan. Now, Trump seems to be on the verge of resolving the war in Ukraine, a conflict that has been a thorn in the side of global peace efforts for years.
"We're done with the funding of the Ukraine war business. We want to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing," Trump declared, as reported by The Blaze.
In a bid to bring an end to the Ukrainian conflict, Trump announced on Friday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15. He suggested that the peace deal might involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both."
However, this proposal was met with resistance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who released a video hours after Trump's announcement, expressing his unwillingness to make territorial concessions.
"Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier," Zelenskyy stated, adding that "any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are made without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything. These are unworkable decisions."
Vice President JD Vance, known for his open criticism of Zelenskyy, expressed his views on the matter in a "Sunday Morning Futures" interview with Maria Bartiromo. He stated that neither side would be particularly pleased with the settlement, but emphasized the need to end the funding of the Ukraine war and bring about a peaceful resolution.
The United States has been a significant financial supporter of Ukraine since its invasion by Russia in February 2022, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the cause. This includes over $70 billion worth of weapons, equipment, and other military support. Trump announced in July that the U.S. would supply Ukraine with "various pieces of very sophisticated military" equipment, with European nations footing the bill.
"We're in for about $350 billion. Europe is in for $100 billion. That's a lot of money, 100, but they should be in actually for more than us," Trump said. "So as we send equipment, they are going to reimburse us for that equipment."
Vance suggested that despite the increasing mediation of American military aid by European nations, Washington still holds substantial economic influence over Kyiv. This leverage could compel Ukraine to negotiate, even if the terms initially seem unacceptable to Zelenskyy.
"The reason that we reached this decisive moment, a real change in where we were, is because the president was willing to apply some significant pressure and actually say, 'If you don't come to the table, the American people we're not going to get involved in this war directly, but we have a lot of economic points of leverage and we're willing to use those to bring about peace.'"
Trump has indeed been applying pressure on both sides. To bring Putin to the negotiating table, he threatened to impose a 25% tariff on goods from importers of Russian oil. He also briefly paused all military aid to Ukraine after observing that Zelenskyy was "not ready for Peace if America is involved."
Vance noted that the peace deal is unlikely to please everyone, stating, "Both the Russians and the Ukrainians, probably, at the end of the day, are going to be unhappy with it." However, he hinted that American taxpayers, weary of funding the conflict, would likely welcome an end to the fighting.
While the details of the proposed trilateral summit remain unclear, Vance indicated that it would not be productive for Zelenskyy to attend the upcoming summit in Alaska. Blaze News has reached out to the White House and the State Department for further comment.
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