Former House Leadership Chief of Staff and current Social Entrepreneur. Firsthand information on Ukraine.
Steven Moore, founder of the Ukraine Freedom Project, has been in Ukraine since Day 5 of the war to provide nonlethal aid to Ukrainian drone units and other humanitarian support.
A version of this piece appeared in the September 30, 2026 edition of the Washington Times.
The following is an updated version of an article that appeared in the Washington Times. The original can be seen here :
Time for Trump to confront Putin
Russia will not end its war against Ukraine without pressure
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/sep/30/time-trump-confront-putin/
The choice, as Ukrainians see it, is to keep Donbas and get pounded by drones and missiles or give up Donbas and get pounded by drones and missiles.
OCT 02, 2026
At the United Nations on Sept. 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russian President Vladimir Putin “patient zero,” the source of war and instability around the world. He warned that Russia would not end its war against Ukraine without pressure.
Moscow responded to Mr. Zelenskyy’s assertion from the sky. In the days since his comments, Russia has fired nearly 4,000 drones, glide bombs and missiles at Ukraine.
On Saturday and Sunday, drones struck near a kindergarten and a playground in Kyiv. On Monday, a guided bomb tore through an apartment block in Kharkiv, wounding six children, and a midday drone strike in Kyiv set Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences on fire.
That is the backdrop for the peace talks. If presidential son-in-law and U.S. envoy Jared Kushner is approaching the Ukraine peace negotiations like a “win-win” business deal, he is not negotiating with Ukraine’s sole decision-maker.
Mr. Zelenskyy must sell any peace deal to nearly 40 million Ukrainians who have suffered greatly, including about 1 million Ukrainians who serve in the largest, most battle-hardened military in Europe. What is a “win” for them?
I live in Kyiv. I talk to Ukrainians every day. Last week, I walked with my friend Andrii around his Kyiv neighborhood, where Russian drones struck three apartment buildings and two gas stations this summer.
The Russians chased Andrii out of Donetsk, the largest city in the Donbas region, in 2014 when Mr. Putin’s fighters came to “liberate” the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine. Andrii misses his home city. He talks about it a lot. A Donetsk symbol is tattooed on his forearm.
“Nobody in Ukraine gives a s—- about Donbas,” Andrii said. “The place is ruined. Putin bombed everything. Everyone who could move out of there did. We would give it up in a second if we thought Putin would stop.”
This is a win for Ukrainians.
Mr. Kushner has said that if Ukraine withdraws from Donbas, “we have the rest of the deal set up and put together.” Still, nobody has seen President Trump do anything to make Mr. Putin stop launching drones and missiles into neighborhoods where Andrii’s children play.
In his second term, Mr. Trump has had 15 calls and one meeting with Mr. Putin. After each of those events, Mr. Putin has launched airstrikes on Ukraine.
Mr. Trump described his first call with Mr. Putin on Feb. 12, 2025, as “highly productive.” According to Ukrainian air force reports, Mr. Putin launched 140 drones into Ukraine that night.
After his June 14, 2026, call, Mr. Trump said, “I think he does feel pressure. He wants to end it.” Mr. Putin launched 611 drones and 70 missiles after the call.
“President Putin wants it to end. I will tell you that — very strongly,” Mr. Trump said about the July 4, 2026, call.
Russia launched 125 drones and four missiles into Ukraine.
The experience of the peace talks for the Ukrainian people is that every time Mr. Trump talks with Mr. Putin about peace, they get hit by a few hundred drones and missiles.
Mr. Putin’s duplicity is not news to Ukrainians. According to Ukrainian defense records, he has entered into 40 ceasefires and peace agreements with Ukraine. He is in violation of 39. The one he arguably upheld was the September ceasefire, when Mr. Kushner arrived.
Mr. Putin wants Donbas because the territory he has not taken in 12 years of trying is well-fortified and key to defending any future military operation against Ukraine. As evidenced by his calls with Mr. Trump, Mr. Putin’s primary goal in the peace talks is to advance his military objectives.
Ukrainians need guarantees that Mr. Putin’s forces will stop attacking Ukraine, or they will keep fighting. The choice, as they see it, is to keep Donbas and get pounded by drones and missiles or give up Donbas and get pounded by drones and missiles.
Mr. Trump says in “The Art of the Deal,” “Much as it pays to emphasize the positive, there are times when the only choice is confrontation.” At those times, Mr. Trump says his philosophy is to fight back hard.
Perhaps Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner need to revisit that section.
A reminder :
Russia’s war will not end until Putin accepts Ukrainian independence
By Peter Dickinson
Shaun Pinner :
Whatever the reasoning, striking Kyiv’s Northern Bridge with a drone in broad daylight, while civilians are using it, is deeply disturbing.
A drone strike like this is hardly going to bring down the bridge. It does, however, put ordinary people’s lives at risk begging the question, what exactly was Russia trying to achieve?
“what exactly was Russia trying to achieve?”
If you rephrase it as, “what exactly were the terrorists trying to achieve?”, then the answer becomes obvious.
Joe Thomas :
JD Vance: “You should never have a foreign head of state threatening the head of government of an allied nation. It’s preposterous; it’s unacceptable.”
Like Greenland?
Denmark. 😉
Darth Putin KGB :
The further Putinisation of America. Strategic assets used to project power must be withdrawn due to strategic incompetence in an unnecessary war of choice.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmwyve191dlko
Operator Starsky :
Check this out: Taliban representatives were invited to participate in the russian military exercise “Center-2026”.
What an impressive evolution of the russian world! From putin shaking hands with the world leaders – to russians now training troops with the worst terrorist scum on Earth. Their true and only friends and allies in 2026.
The inhumane Islamic regimes of ayatolas and Talibs, North Korean stalinism and Juche – russians have made a powerful quantum leap from G8 to T4. Which is exactly what they deserve.
Olena Halushka MP :
Don’t get us wrong. Ukrainians are not being offered peace.
We will either fight to remain free on our own land — or, if conquered by Moscow, be forced to fight its imperial wars against other free nations.
That is the choice russia is generously offering.
Not war or peace.
Darth Putin KGB :
Russia Feb 2022: We need to invade Ukraine as they have biolabs producing Russophobic weaponised bats that make people gay.
Russia Oct 2026: Someone died at one of our biolabs that makes the bubonic plague.
Magyar :
“Wake up, dear Ukrainians. It’s time to use our heads.
At a moment when an exhausted and frightened nation is being sold the illusion of a ceasefire and the long-awaited peace.
They are telling us these fairy tales precisely when the enemy is escalating and openly threatening the entire world. They are shaping public opinion almost in unison with Putin’s rhetoric.
Putin is certainly not interested in peace. He wants blood – to the point of destroying us completely. And today he is exploiting a window of opportunity created by jet-powered Shahed-type drones, targeting our rear and civilian infrastructure because, to put it mildly, he has had little success on the battlefield throughout 2026.
If we want to survive, we must be guided by rational analysis and mathematics, not impossible dreams. And we absolutely intend to survive.
And yes, the Defense Forces will close this current window of opportunity for the enemy through countermeasures, including rearmament. That takes time. How much? It depends on a number of factors – I won’t say more for now.
The front is difficult. The russian war machine keeps pushing and will continue to push, but we are destroying it at an increasing rate.
The army has hardened. Now it is time for the home front to grow up as well. Do not believe in illusions or miracles. We must rely on our own strength and on one another. That is the only way we will preserve our state and our Motherland.
And the shack these jackals are offering us under a white flag will be burned down on the very first dark night.
Those who understand, will understand.
We will stand. Moscow will fall.”
Magyar, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Ukraine, Commander of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_Systems_Forces_(Ukraine)
Putler is a evil bastard and depraved butcher, soaked with human blood, but he does not respect Trump, whom he probably sees as an individual with a very low IQ. Anyhow, who would respect someone who gets on his knees at every opportunity?