Posted originally on CTH on March 26, 2026 | Sundance | 218

The more NATO/EU hypocrisy creates friction with President Trump; the less U.S. support exists for Ukraine.  That’s the dynamic Zelenskyy is trying desperately to navigate with his EU allies.

During a lengthy interview with Reuters, Zelenskyy says he has been directly told the only way for Ukraine to get security guarantees from USA participation is if he concedes the contested Donbas region to Russia and ends the conflict.

Assuming what Zelenskyy says is accurate, at this point in the ongoing stalemate, this seems like the pragmatic optimal solution.  Concede Donbas to Russia, and the U.S. will mediate terms that emphasize an American willingness to protect Ukraine from further encroachment.

That said, when Zelenskyy once again starts asking who is going to pay for the needs of his country, the U.S. taxpayer eyeroll commences.

KYIV, March 25 (Reuters) – The U.S. ​is making its offer of security guarantees for a peace deal in Ukraine conditional on Kyiv ceding all of the country’s eastern region of Donbas to Russia, President Volodymyr ‌Zelenskiy told Reuters in an interview.

[…] Two vital questions remained unresolved regarding security guarantees, Zelenskiy said: Who would help to fund Ukraine’s weapons ​purchases to sustain its military deterrent, and how exactly would its allies respond in the face of any future Russian aggression?

“The Americans are prepared to finalise these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ​ready to withdraw from Donbas,” said the 48-year-old leader, who added that he understood the “subtleties” of the American position although he had not participated directly himself in the trilateral talks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin insists that control of the whole of Donbas is an essential element of his war aims, which Moscow would achieve on the battlefield if it could not do so at the negotiating table.

But the pace of Russia’s advance has been slow over the past two years. Military ​analysts say it could take a long time and a significant amount of manpower to conquer all of Donbas, which includes a so-called Fortress Belt of cities heavily fortified by the Ukrainian military.

[…] Speaking in a gilded meeting room at the presidential offices in central Kyiv, Zelenskiy said Russia was betting Washington would lose interest if the peace talks stalled and would walk away. He acknowledged that there was some risk of this.

A fourth ​round of trilateral talks due this month was ​postponed due to the Iran conflict.

The Ukrainian leader shrugged off past tensions between himself and Trump. “I am not a box of chocolates or a car, ​to be liked or disliked ⁠by one person or another,” he said. “In my opinion, the President of the United States looks at this more pragmatically, and he probably wants the war to end quickly. We also want to do so quickly.”

[…] Following heavy Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities on Wednesday, Zelenskiy thanked the Trump administration for maintaining the supplies of Patriot missile defence systems, despite increased demand for these weapons because of the conflict in the Gulf.

[…] “Deliveries to us were not stopped. I’m very grateful to President Trump, and to his team,” Zelenskiy said. “But this supply of Patriot missiles is not as large as we need.” (read more)

It’s never enough for this guy. Ukraine is a bottomless pit of money and corruption.

As the EU proclaims that Iran is not a NATO member and the middle east conflict is not their issue, President Trump rightly points out that Ukraine is not a NATO member, and the Ukraine conflict is not our issue.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is heading to a G7 foreign minister summit in France, and paused to answer questions on both Iran and Ukraine from the traveling press pool.