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Robert A. McConnell | 12/30/25
Over and over, I, among others, have said Putin will not stop his war against Ukraine until he is stopped.
For anyone to believe otherwise, it has always been a mystery to me.
Now, our dear friend Peter Wallison, former General Counsel to the Department of the Treasury and White House Counsel both under President Reagan, has written that President Trump will never be able to end the war.
I think Peter is right on point – at least unless President Trump grasps that greedy business deals must be set aside and Putin must be stopped.
I recommend Peter’s article, published by the American Enterprise Institute.
Why Trump Will Never Be Able to End the War in Ukraine
by Peter J. Wallison Senior Fellow Emeritus, American Enterprise Institute
December 29, 2025
I’m always amused by people—many in our own government and media—who are astonished by Vladimir Putin’s refusal to accept any Russia-Ukraine agreement that is put before him. Stolidly, he says that he will accept nothing short of a Ukraine capitulation, a halt to the fighting where Russia will retain everything—as little as it is—that it has attained in four years of fighting. He protests, against all evidence, that Russia is winning.
Why is Putin so immovable, when his policies appear to most experts as bleeding Russia dry? True, Ukraine is suffering even more, but there are no indications that Ukraine’s people are ready to give up.
So the meetings continue, with representatives of the United States now talking profit with Putin—the many opportunities for the US and Russia to engage in profitable activities that will enrich both sides. And probably, as these things have been going, both sides personally. Still, Putin is holding out when Steve Witkoff is probably promising the world just to stop this silly war. Stubbornly, Putin offers counterproposals he knows will be unacceptable.
Putin is tough, and he has reasons. Most of us remember Yevgeny Prigozhin, who headed the Wagner group in Russia several years ago. He appeared to be a loyal general in Putin’s army, but then one day he turned his forces in the direction of Moscow and began a march. Oddly, as Prigozhin moved toward Moscow, nothing happened. No loyal Kremlin troops turned out to block his way, no civilian supporters of the regime protested, Russian newspapers were silent, and everyone seemed to be waiting to see what would happen. Western media were transfixed.
What “happened” was an anti-climax. Suddenly, Putin invited Prigozhin to the Kremlin and they had a good talk; everyone seemed to settle down. Prigozhin took an interest in Belarus and turned his army in that direction, for further training, or possibly to start a second front against Ukraine. Then, several months later, a private plane he was flying in suddenly and unaccountably fell out of the sky. If there was a hero’s burial ceremony, I missed it.
Then, Donald Trump was elected President. He said that he would end that foolish war in Ukraine in one day. After all, Putin was a friend. It took a little longer than a day, because Ukraine seemed to think it had a say in the matter. But Trump bumped along, with long but unproductive telephone calls with Putin, and recurring visits to Putin by his golfing partner Witkoff, but nothing was happening in the way of a peace settlements or even a ceasefire. The war goes on almost a year into Trump’s term.
Why is it so difficult to make an agreement with Putin to stop the war? The answer is simple. The war is the only thing that is keeping Putin alive. The oligarchs who hold the real power in Russia do not dare to overthrow him, because they’d be blamed for Russia’s surrender, and his death will produce a struggle for power among the oligarchs that will be hellish in its brutality. Moreover, those who overthrow Putin will be blamed for the loss of the war in Ukraine, which will swiftly follow.
Thus, it is better to wait until Putin dies than to try to overthrow him, and Putin knows that as long as he is alive and fighting for Mother Russia, he is safe from attack. But, if he were ever to end the war—agreeing to some kind of settlement with his good friend Donald Trump—it would mean the end of his life.
So in a very real sense, Putin is fighting for his life by keeping the war going, and Trump will never get that Nobel Prize as long as Putin succeeds.
Today, we urgently appeal to your generosity and compassion.
Your support is crucial to our mission to advance strategic advocacy for Ukraine and support the People of Ukraine.
ROBERT MCCONNELL
Co-Founder, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation
Director of External Affairs, Friends of Ukraine Network
This introduction is Mr. McConnell’s and does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation or the Friends of Ukraine Network (FOUN).