President Donald Trump made good on yet another campaign promise last week, brokering a historic peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan — two nations that have been spilling blood for decades over territory in the Caucasus Mountains.
Trump pulled off this latest deal after securing peaceful resolutions between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia and Thailand, and India and Pakistan. Trump, now on a roll, appears poised to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
‘We’re done with the funding of the Ukraine war business. We want to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing.’
To this end, Trump announced on Friday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15. He told reporters the peace deal would likely involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.”
Hours after Trump’s announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared a video suggesting Kyiv would not make territorial concessions — a possible obstacle to a settlement.
After stating, “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” Zelenskyy said that “any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are made without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything. These are unworkable decisions.”
Vice President JD Vance, who has previously made his frustration with Zelenskyy known, told Maria Bartiromo in a “Sunday Morning Futures” interview recorded on Friday that neither side will be particularly happy about the settlement, and that one way or another, “we’re done with the funding of the Ukraine war business. We want to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing.”
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Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
The United States has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to Ukraine since its invasion by Russia in February 2022, outspending Europe on propping up Kyiv well into this year.
In addition to taxpayer dollars for the beleaguered nation’s humanitarian and budget support, the U.S. has poured well over $70 billion worth of weapons, equipment, and other military support into Ukraine — including long-range Army Tactical Missile System missiles.
Trump announced in July that the U.S. would supply Ukraine with “various pieces of very sophisticated military” equipment, including Patriot air defense batteries; however, European nations would foot the bill.
“We’re in for about $350 billion. Europe is in for $100 billion. That’s a lot of money, 100, but they should be in actually for more than us,” Trump said. “So as we send equipment, they are going to reimburse us for that equipment.”
While American military aid is becoming increasingly mediated by European nations, Vance hinted in his interview with Bartiromo that Washington retains sufficient economic leverage over Kyiv to compel it to negotiate, even if the terms are at first blush unacceptable to Zelenskyy.
Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images
“The reason that we reached this decisive moment, a real change in where we were, is because the president was willing to apply some significant pressure and actually say, ‘If you don’t come to the table, the American people — we’re not going to get involved in this war directly, but we have a lot of economic points of leverage and we’re willing to use those to bring about peace.'”
‘Americans are sick of continuing to send their money, their tax dollars to this particular conflict.’
Trump has applied pressure in both directions.
In an effort to get Putin to the negotiating table, Trump threatened last week to apply a 25% tariff on goods from importers of Russian oil. After observing in March that Zelenskyy was “not ready for Peace if America is involved,” Trump ordered a brief pause on all military aid being sent to Ukraine.
Both foreign leaders appear to have reacted to Trump’s diplomatic spurring.
Vance emphasized that the peace deal is “not going to make anybody super happy. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians, probably, at the end of the day, are going to be unhappy with it.”
While the Ukrainians and Russians won’t be happy, Vance hinted that there will be at least one major cohort pleased to see the fighting end, noting, “Americans are sick of continuing to send their money, their tax dollars to this particular conflict.”
The vice president indicated that a trilateral summit is now in the cards but that it would not be productive to have Zelenskyy attend the Friday summit in Alaska.
Blaze News has reached out to the White House and to the State Department for comment.
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Jd vance, Vance, President donald trump, Trump, Russia, Moscow, Alaska, Putin, Zelensky, Zelenskyy, Ukraine, Kyiv, Ceasefire, War, Peace, Negotiations, Funding, Politics
