33 Comments
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Kim's avatar

Aside from the Trump-Putin Phoney-Baloney “peace” plan, I appreciate your aligning with Ground News. I have been subscribing to it for over a year (with one of my marked areas of interest being Ukraine 🇺🇦), and have found it to be a wonderful non-biased news aggregator. Well done!

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Black Pearl (Slava Ukraini)'s avatar

Liked, restacked & shared to Bluesky (as usual). Sad, but unsurprising, to see the US's withholding of aid - still the cards were on the table when the Trump regime treated Zelenskyy so disgracefully in the Oval Office. One has to wonder whether the kompromat 💩🥫holds over Trump is sexual in nature...

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Mike kestell's avatar

He’s already an adjudicated sex offender. Doubt they have sexual komprimat, that wouldn’t influence Trump. They have something much more powerful: the promise of fortunes and Trump’s inherent greed. He is like Gollum drawn to the rings, “my precious “

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Rima's avatar

Perfect description. The only Bible he knows is the dollar.

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Cindy's avatar

👀 I am seeing items relating to this as in Trump's involvement in beauty contests & where the "contestants" came from, who had access to them/for what purposes, plus Russian involvement in the "supply chain" - all tied in with background to the Epstein story. It is true that so far MAGAts have closed their eyes to much of what is being said in this space, but you have to wonder about the straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back syndrome, especially with Congress members coming up for re-election & perhaps already knowing more than is public 🤔 I have my 🤞 for Trump's removal via the 25th Amendment as although Vance might be more competent, he doesn't have the MAGA blind loyalty, so... 🧨😱

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Cathi Connelly's avatar

Probably not realistic. But I have the same hope. Sad my grandchildren will see a world where your word is not your line in the sand. And morals mean something. I have prayed daily for Zelensky to be able to hold the Line

I will go to be deathbed knowing Putin and Trump are THE MOST evil subhuman SNAKES that inhabit the earth. Purgatory is not good enough for these evil bastards

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Black Pearl (Slava Ukraini)'s avatar

Agreed - except that I do not see Trump's removal from the gilded Oval Office other than in a gilded casket - as his dementia advances (as evidenced by his loss of inhibitions, which in turn reveals the depths of his moral turpitude), his sycophants will continue to debase themselves, rather than admit they are likewise showing their own true colours.

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Cindy's avatar

🤷 By his CHOICE I agree, but the 25th Amendment is for members of his Cabinet to oust him if he gets too deranged to manage 🤞

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Rima's avatar

trump making decisions for Ukraine's existence and future is untenable. Just as his killing Venezuelans without due process or even a proof of any guilt. He is a bully and coward who attacks while hiding behind others. Hope I pray that you can stay strong and come out victorious.

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Stephen Michael Kellat's avatar

Anything that prevents the USA effectively becoming a co-belligerent to Russia is worth it at the moment. Ukraine becoming a co-dominion of the USA and Russia would erase a culture and people. The Witkoff Scheme seems inclined towards that and needs stopping.

I wouldn’t say the negotiations are totally a charade. They’re a second front. Bullets might not fly on this front but it may wind up being just as deadly on a grander scale.

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billy mccarthy's avatar

the sinking of the two oil tankers was a message to both the kremlin and the taco guys cabal, it was about time that europe told washington what to do

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Scott_D's avatar

Thanks again for all you do. Ukraine and its people is too serious a topic to be left to the likes of Trump, Witkoff, or the rest of his confederacy of dunces. They are a "wretched hive of scum and villainy", and I don't know whether to laugh or cry, as an American, that this is what we are represented by to the world. That's not who we are. Not only Ukraine's survival, but its thriving is paramount.

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Some One's avatar

Thanks for digging into this

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Paula's avatar

Exactly this: “Ukrainians are forced to play along with negotiations so that they do not look as if they are the impediment to peace, so that they don’t give Trump a reason to turn on them.”

Trump has been looking for a plausible reason to turn his back on Ukraine and embrace Putin. The rest of us are required to dance along to delay this for as long as possible. Unfortunately, so long as Trump is in power it’s inevitable.

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Victoria Stone's avatar

I think it’s a charade in the sense that Russia has made it clear that they want Ukrainian land and no real security guarantees for Ukraine so that they can push forward with their invasion later and, instead of calling out Russia’s aggression, the US keeps appeasing Russia while insulting and demeaning Ukraine for not being a more accommodating victim. So yep- a total charade and disgrace.

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Anna (community manager)'s avatar

Absolutely. Russia has been completely open about its intentions, yet somehow the pressure keeps landing on Ukraine, what would make it possible for a change to happen in this situation?

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Victoria Stone's avatar

A change in the administration…this one is more concerned with lining its pockets.

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Lisa Wright's avatar

President Trump wants approval from Ukraine for his Administration's abandonment of their sovereignty along with reversing 80 years of US foreign policy in support of democracy -- forcing our USA to ally our federal government with Russia's dictator, Vladimir Putin. It is revolting. This is not America First, but America disgraced. Sir William Browder discusses the ahistorical, foolish expectation by Trump kleptocrat cronies Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and favored others that their negotiations on behalf of Russia's interests will yield themselves financial riches from business development deals in Russia. FTO that they are aware of the phenomenon of Sudden Russian Death Syndrome said to have been suffered by up to 75 billionaires and others who found themselves on the outs with Putin. https://x.com/Billbrowder/status/1995051199259635921?s=20

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Earl Blacklock's avatar

I think that the entire world is having to play the game of stroking Trump's ego. I suspect that when the Russian capacity to produce, refine, and sell oil gets to a loss of 50%, their economy will collapse and they will find any excuse to exit the battlefield. Yes, the Ukrainians will lose many more soldiers and civilians before then, but they will then be free, as is the case with every fight for freedom in world history. And Zelensky will be able to say to Trump, "You have no cards".

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Anna (community manager)'s avatar

Do you think Trump will ever really give up his influence?

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Colleen Bourassa's avatar

Ukraine must be at the table as a principal

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PTW's avatar

Why are the "peace negotiations" a charade? Because Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are NOT "diplomats." They are businessmen, looking to score business deals with Russia.

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Anna (community manager)'s avatar

Definitely! Who out of the US officials, in your opinion, would be a better fit to lead the peace negotiations ?

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PTW's avatar

I would have said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. But he seems to be softening his previous anti-Russia stance to be more in line with his boss, Donald Trump. So I don't know anymore. I fear for Ukraine's future. Maybe their only salvation is for Europe to step up, since they have more to lose immediately if Russia continues to be allowed to grab up territory.

I would not trust the current American administration (and their self-dealing "peace negotiators") as far as I could throw them.

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#DebDag's avatar
2dEdited

Any “peace plan” that is crafted with US participation will necessarily be corrupt and aligned with Russia. Trump and his stooge Witkoff are both puerile idiots who have zero understanding of Ukrainian history and culture. They also couldn’t care less about the Ukrainian people.

Ukraine should continue to fight for its prior borders, including eastern sections (the Luhansk and the Donetsk), as well as Crimea. Especially Crimea! (Crimea has historically been the “French Rivieria” of Eastern Europe.) I pray that Zelenskyy does not give an inch to Putin, both literally and figuratively.

The only legitimate Peace Plan is for Russia to get the hell out of Ukraine—period! How arrogant and rapacious of Putin, that his bloodthirsty appetite for a sovereign people is the sole reason for this war. It sickens me.

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Anna (community manager)'s avatar

Do you think the international pressure on Russia will ever be enough to force a withdrawal?

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#DebDag's avatar

I don’t think the international pressure on Russia is powerful enough to compel Putin to do anything. The US should be the greatest deterrent to Russia, but under the fawning Trump, we are merely sheep. Tragically.

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Mark G Buell's avatar

Yes. The real danger is that Trump will openly align with Russia. I've been seeing this for months. This possibility is terrifying. Europe needs to get together, or the whole purpose of fighting in WW2 will be lost. We are living on the razor edge of a real-life dystopian future.

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Jaye Shands's avatar

I’m late reading/commenting on this. But the current discussion being held with Ukraine’s global supporters has given me hope after a year of urging Europe to wake up and stop giving Trump and Putin the upper hand. The idea is unpopular with Americans for obvious reasons, but not this American.

We’ve never had a prolonged conflict on our soil and know nothing of the real suffering it brings. Empathy is one thing, experience another. One reason it’s been so difficult mobilizing against this regime is that lack of knowledge and steadfast belief in American exceptionalism. We are not exceptional and our current situation proves it. Others cherish their freedom from tyranny as much as we do. We have a lot to learn. With America now being a source of betrayal and danger to the world, we are an aggressor whether we have good intentions or not. Those intentions are part of the pavement on the road to hell. No one is obligated to stand by and allow Trump to join with Putin to fracture their well being and steal their future. That’s what the alliance during WWII was about. Then, we were on the right side of history but not now. Not all Germans, Italians or Japanese were pro Nazi/Fascism but they had to deal with the consequences of losing control of their governments. Now we are in that same unenviable position. Nations in Europe and others with common interests are taking the rational and necessary steps to protect and preserve the tenants of democracy. If the US economy must be brought to collapse to accomplish this, so be it. It’s the price we must pay for the sins of our country, even if we are not a party to them. It is a debt we owe, especially to Ukraine for the decades of botched policy that left them vulnerable. Silence, inattention, and apathy have a cost. The truth is painful. Yet in the bargain, we win by losing a regime that seeks to enslave and eradicate not only us, but future generations. May those who follow learn from the error of our ways and build a better America in their time.

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