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News regarding Ukraine, Russia’s genocidal war, possible negotiations, concessions being offered, and more are flooding the media and internet.
At the Munich Security Conference, it was refreshing to hear Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, say that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a “rookie mistake” when he said a return to Ukraine’s pre-war borders was “unrealistic.”
Maybe even better, Wicker said, “I don’t know who wrote the speech — it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool.”
Wicker told Politico, “There are good guys and bad guys in this war, and the Russians are the bad guys …They invaded, contrary to almost every international law, and they should be defeated. And Ukraine is entitled to the promises that the world made to it.”
Here, here.
There are several of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation’s Friends of Ukraine Network (FOUN) in Munich pressing the case for Ukrainian victory.
Below, I recommend today’s lead editorial in the print edition of The Wall Street Journal.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Peace Through Weakness in Ukraine?
Against Putin unlike everywhere else, Trump makes concessions first.
By The Editorial Board | Feb. 13, 2025 5:56 pm ET
President Trump has begun his promised effort to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, and the initial signs are discouraging. He’s making concessions to Vladimir Putin without anything in return, and he’s informing Ukraine after the fact. Does Mr. Trump want to negotiate peace with honor that will last, or peace through weakness that will reward the Kremlin?
Let’s stipulate that Joe Biden left Mr. Trump a bloody mess. Early in the war the Ukrainians fought the Russians back from Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson and later drove Mr. Putin’s Black Sea fleet into retreat. But further counteroffensives were crippled by the U.S. failure to provide adequate or timely arms. The Biden policy boiled down to giving Kyiv just enough weapons not to lose in a rout but not enough to win. And never properly explaining to Americans the stakes or a strategy.
Mr. Trump is probably also right that Mr. Putin wouldn’t have invaded in 2022 if he had been U.S. President. [We must remember during Trumps’ first term Russia was occupying Crimea and a major chunk of Donbas which had seized before Trump took office. RAM] But Presidents don’t get to choose the world they inherit. The Ukraine war was likely to end with a settlement no matter who won the U.S. election in November, but the details are crucial to the security of Europe and the U.S. [“Likely to end with a settlement” given that no American administration has ever made the strategic decision to provide Ukraine what it needed to defeat Russia – a grievous multi-administration mistake. RAM]
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On that score, Mr. Trump is treating Mr. Putin and Russia unlike any other negotiating counterpart. His usual method is to make maximalist demands and negotiate down: We’ll take back the Panama Canal! But here he’s making major concessions first.
Most concerning is that Mr. Trump seems to be excluding Ukraine as a negotiating party, much less partner. He announced his “peace” negotiation after a phone call with Mr. Putin and informed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky after the fact.
Mr. Zelensky said Thursday he won’t honor an agreement that Russia and the U.S. make without Ukraine. And he has cause to fear that Mr. Trump might box him out, as Mr. Trump did the Afghan government during his first-term talks with the Taliban.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that Ukraine couldn’t join NATO and that returning to its borders before Russia’s first invasion in 2014 is “unrealistic.” Mr. Hegseth walked back his NATO point on Thursday, saying Mr. Trump would decide the question. But the President then said he liked Mr. Hegseth’s original statement.
Mr. Hegseth tried to reassure Europe by saying “a durable peace for Ukraine must include robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again.” But then he put the onus on “capable European and non-European troops,” with no U.S. troops. Where those non-European troops would come from is a mystery, and perhaps a mirage.
What has kept the peace in Korea for more than 70 years is a U.S. deterrent force backing a formidable South Korean military. Would the U.S. really let Mr. Putin roll over European forces in Ukraine in the future?
If Ukraine is going to cede territory to Russia, it needs credible security guarantees so Mr. Putin or his successor can’t rearm and invade again in the future. Kyiv will need a continued supply of foreign weapons and its own robust military industrial base. And if NATO is out, the U.S. could reassure by moving the bulk of its European military presence from Germany to Poland and letting American contractors help the European peacekeepers in Ukraine.
It’s important to challenge Europe to spend more on its own defense and do more for Ukraine. But Mr. Hegseth’s remarks strongly implied that the Trump position is that Europe may soon be on its own. The U.S. will focus on China and its own border, he said. And he proposed “a division of labor that maximizes our comparative advantages in Europe and Pacific respectively.”
The risk here is that deterrence isn’t divisible. Mr. Trump is wrong if he thinks letting Russia dominate Ukraine will result in less U.S. involvement in Europe or enhance deterrence in the Pacific. The U.S. will end up spending far more on defense and deploying more troops in Europe to defend Poland, the Baltic states, and NATO commitments. If he abandons Ukraine, he’ll soon find that China is even more emboldened to take Taiwan. [Hello – why is it all our Pacific Rim allies are urging that we make sure Ukraine defeats Russia. Does anyone listen? RAM]
Mr. Trump likes to negotiate from strength, but on Ukraine he sounds like the one who wants a deal more. Mr. Putin, meanwhile, is continuing to bomb Ukraine’s cities and power plants and take territory in the east—albeit at enormous human cost. [And continue war crimes and genocide – are we really going to reward war crimes? And punish the victim that is our ally? RAM]
If Mr. Trump wants to end the war on honorable terms, he may have to demonstrate he can raise the pressure on Mr. Putin. The U.S. can increase military support to Ukraine, remove limits on the use of weapons, and intensify pressure on Russia elsewhere around the world. Why does the Wagner Group still have a free ride in Africa?
Mr. Trump has to decide if he wants an honorable peace in Ukraine or risk his own Afghanistan or Vietnam.
ROBERT MCCONNELL
Co-Founder, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation
Director of External Affairs, Friends of Ukraine Network
The introduction and parenthetical comments are Mr. McConnell’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation or those of the Friends of Ukraine Network (FOUN).