Things are very bad in Ukraine right now. The former spokeswoman for Ukraine’s clearly overmatched comedian leader says things could get a lot worse if Ukraine’s government walks away from peace this time.
“Every subsequent deal for Ukraine will only be worse — because we are losing. We are losing people, territory, and the economy,” Iuliia Mendel, press secretary for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from 2019 to 2021, wrote in an X post this weekend as negotiators went back and forth in marathon peace talks.
‘Meaningful Progress’
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday told multiple news outlets that he was pleased with the “tremendous amount of progress” toward finalizing a U.S.-brokered peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, but more needed to be done to get there.
As the Trump-hating BBC reported, Ukraine and its friends in Europe weren’t happy with previously leaked proposals, “seen as favouring Russia and welcomed by [Russian President] Vladimir Putin as ‘the basis’ for settlement.” Zelensky earlier said his bomb-battered country and his fellow citizens “might face a very difficult choice: either losing dignity, or risk losing a key partner” — President Donald Trump.
The Washington Post reported the leaked draft would force Ukraine to reduce its army and turn over land that Russia has not taken. That proposal also would prohibit NATO troops. U.S. officials said the draft has been updated, with Zelensky sounding more confident that “President Trump’s team is hearing us.”
On Sunday evening, the White House issued a statement describing the talks as “constructive, focused, and respectful, underscoring the shared commitment to achieving a just and lasting peace.”
“The discussions showed meaningful progress toward aligning positions and identifying clear next steps. They reaffirmed that any future agreement must fully uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty and deliver a sustainable and just peace,” the White House said. “As a result of the discussions, the parties drafted an updated and refined peace framework.”
‘You’re Playing Cards’
But some nine months after Trump and Vice President JD Vance had their come-to-Jesus meeting with an arrogant Zelensky, Ukraine still holds very few cards. As Trump told Ukraine’s president at the time, “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.”
Zelensky responded, “I’m not playing cards. I’m very serious, Mr. President. I’m very serious.”
“You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump told Zelensky pointedly. “And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.”
A lack of gratitude from Ukraine’s leaders clouded negotiations for a time over the weekend.
‘My Country is Bleeding Out’
Mendel said the European countries that have pushed Ukraine to continue the nearly four-year war have helped keep Russia’s economy running over the period. She said the European Union has pumped more than $400 billion into Russia’s coffers in energy and goods since the war began in February 2022. The EU, the journalist and author said, “has no real strategy, no way to stop fueling Russian budget or support Ukraine enough to win, no direct dialogue with Moscow, and no meaningful leverage over either the Kremlin or Washington.”
But the siren song from neocons and other warmongers has been “Russia has gained so little land.” Mendel said those arguments “sound almost childish when you consider the human cost.”
“We have lost more people in three years than some European nations have as the whole population,” the former Ukraine press secretary said.
In June, the leftist Guardian reported Ukraine had suffered as many as 100,000 military personnel killed and some 400,000 casualties. Russia, according to the publication, had recorded more than a million troops killed or injured since the opening of the war.
Another report in August showed nearly 14,000 Ukrainian civilians, including 726 children, have been killed in the war. Many thousands more injured.
“My country is bleeding out,” Mendel wrote. “Many who reflexively oppose every peace proposal believe they are defending Ukraine. With all respect, that is the clearest proof they have no idea what is actually happening on the front lines and inside the country right now.”
‘War is Not a Hollywood Movie’
It appears French, German, and other European officials are doing what they can to screw up the fragile negotiations. The Post reported that a European delegation is working on a counterproposal, which would begin territorial negotiations at the front line — not beyond it — and give Ukraine “robust, legally binding security guarantees, including from the U.S.” That plan is not likely to satisfy the Russian government, responsible for sending hundreds of thousands of young Russian men and women to early graves.
To perhaps the U.S. neocons and their good friends in the military-industrial complex that stand to lose a lot of money if the Russia-Ukraine war ends, Mendel reminded that “War is not a Hollywood movie.”
“I will never abandon the values that God and democracy both place at the very foundation of human existence: human life is the highest good, and people — living, breathing people — are the ones who must be saved,” she wrote.
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
