Trump’s ‘Final Offer’ for Peace in Ukraine Is a Godsend to Russia

The United States is expected to formally present a peace plan today to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. The extremely Russia-friendly deal says the Russians will get:

• Official recognition from the U.S. of its sovereignty over Crimea
• De facto recognition of Russia’s control over the bulk of Luhansk and the occupied parts of Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia (which Russian President Vladimir Putin notably has said he would agree to)
• The removal of all sanctions imposed since 2014
• Formal guarantees that Ukraine will not become a nato member (though it can join the European Union)
• Increased cooperation with the U.S. in industrial and energy sectors

Under this deal, Ukraine will get:

• A vaguely defined security guarantee, which European countries are apparently intended to enforce—there is no mention of U.S. participation (Putin had previously rejected the idea of any European peacekeeping force in Ukraine)
• Unhindered access to the Dnieper River that flows along parts of the front line
• Compensation and support in rebuilding, though there is no mention of where this might come from
• The return of the small area in Kharkiv that Russian forces currently occupy
• Official control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, though the U.S. will take charge of operations and ensure that power flows into both Russia and Ukraine; this will be a linchpin in America’s revitalized energy cooperation with Russia
• The conclusion of a minerals deal with America that gives the U.S. access to untold amounts of Ukraine’s “extractable minerals,” including rare earths, oil and gas

Final offer: The remarkably pro-Russia deal was drafted after President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin in Moscow for four hours last week. It is being presented to Ukrainian officials as Trump’s “final offer,” with the White House saying he is ready to walk away from the situation entirely if it is rejected.

The deal is being called a “bow to aggression,” “a surrender draft dressed in diplomacy,” and “rewarding an aggressor.” European leaders are not expected to agree to it.

The proposal puts Ukraine’s leadership in a particularly difficult position, as they do not wish to upset President Trump and lose U.S. support, but they also cannot dismiss the will of the Ukrainian people by accepting what equates basically to surrender to Russia.

President Trump wants the horrendous war to end quickly, and that is a noble goal. But to end it in a way that capitulates to Putin’s aggression, rewards his brutality, and establishes a U.S. energy alliance with him is certain to cause bigger problems going forward.

Is Putin trustworthy? In 2017, after Trump said he gets along very well with Putin, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote a landmark article titled “Should Donald Trump Trust Vladimir Putin?” He wrote:

What will happen if the American president does “get along very well with” a man of Putin’s character? What happens to America if our country gets along with this man? … Putin … is steeped in secrecy, deception, manipulation, aggression, intimidation, coercion and force, and there is far more about him that we do not know.

Mr. Flurry went on to outline much of Putin’s evil, including his tremendously dangerous support of Iran, his brutal destruction of Chechnya, his murder of many journalists in Russia, and his support of so much of China’s wickedness. After detailing that vileness, Mr. Flurry wrote:

What will happen to a country that will “get along very well with Vladimir Putin”? That’s not just a rhetorical question. The closer our president and our nation gets to Putin, the further it gets from what is good and what is right—the further it gets from God! That is deadly dangerous! Putin will stay true to his character and prey on President Trump and America as he has preyed on others. And we will deserve it for having cozied up with him.

As world leaders meet in London today to discuss President Trump’s peace plan, we should not expect true peace to result. Maybe there will be a short-term resolution. But as America capitulates to Putin’s evil, the prospect of real peace only grows more remote.