Negotiating with Putin is fanciful. The West must support Zelensky in his pursuit of military victory
Published 17 August 2026
On entering the White House for the second time last year, Donald Trump predicted that he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. It was a boastful ambition even by his standards, and despite US efforts to broker various ceasefires and a lasting peace, the conflict is intensifying. Mr Trump failed to understand that the Ukrainians were not prepared to do a “land for peace” deal of the sort he might find rational in the world of business.
Their national sovereignty had been brutally violated and the failure of the initial Russian offensive to take Kyiv and other strategic cities meant they could dig in and inflict serious damage on their adversaries, even at great cost to themselves.
They have been supported by Nato money and weaponry for much of their resistance, but latterly have developed a drone capacity that has taken the war to Russia in a significant way. At the weekend, Ukraine fired more than 800 drones at various Russian targets, including a warehouse of the online retailer Wildberries near Moscow, an oil refinery at Rostov and a space centre developing satellites.
Russia responded with its own devastating attack on a book market in Kyiv, a purely civilian target. Ukraine, by contrast, says it is concentrating its fire on dual-use sites that help the military.
It is evident that the war, far from being close to a resolution, is escalating in ferocity. The US president seems to have given up trying to bring the two sides together and appears to recognise that Ukraine will not accede to Russian territorial demands, and certainly not when Vladimir Putin’s forces are making so little headway.
The attacks inside Russia are bringing home the realities of this war to a people who have been lied to over and over again by official media propaganda about its purpose and probable longevity. Putin is not someone easily swayed by public opinion, but even he will find it difficult to pretend Russia is winning if Ukraine keeps up its attacks.
To that end, European countries should release more of their interceptor missiles to help protect Ukraine from Russia’s drones and ballistic missiles, many provided by North Korea. After the latest attacks, Volodymyr Zelensky said these weapons “cannot simply be allowed to sit in storage” while Ukraine is pounded. New packages of support “literally mean lives saved and infrastructure protected every single day”, he added.
Nato leaders have consistently pledged their support for Ukraine and yet continue to stop short of the sort of commitment that might make a big difference to the progress of the war. Instead of following some fanciful idea of negotiating an end to the war, Mr Trump should consider giving Ukraine the help it needs to win it.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2026/08/17/donald-trump-should-give-ukraine-the-help-it-needs/
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Boris :
The Kremlin claims my April 2022 trip to Kyiv stopped peace negotiations. It’s total and utter bollocks.
No Western leader could have stopped Ukrainians fighting for their country.
I told Zelenskyy: if you want to fight on, we’re going to be with you.
Without the US, Ukraine would not be independent today. America remains the arsenal of democracy and keeps Ukraine going.
Trump has done some great things, from Javelins to tougher sanctions. Now the US needs a far clearer commitment that Putin has got to lose.
By late 2021, Britain had very little doubt Putin was going to invade Ukraine. The intelligence was overwhelming.
But France and Germany still could not accept it, even on the eve of war. They had too much invested in believing it would not happen.
I have no doubt Zelenskyy would do a deal — de facto trade land for peace, freeze the line of contact and accept Western guarantees to protect Ukraine.
Putin has never come close to accepting that. He has done nothing for peace.
Xi’s idea that America is the sinking Sparta and China the rising Athens is rubbish.
China is Sparta, a closed autocratic society. America is Athens — open, democratic and free. The world is not simply seeing US decline and China’s rise.
Source : Tymofiy Mylovanov.
Boris knows only too well what sort of person Krasnov is. In his DM columns, Boris has exploited his cordial relations with Krasnov to try to cajole him to help Ukraine by using flattery.
Like the recent Damascene conversions of the likes of Mark Burns and Laura Loomer it has had no effect at all. Nevertheless, Boris keeps on trying and hopefully they will keep trying.
It’s going to be a long, hard two years for Ukraine until democracy has another chance in the U.S.
At end of Krasnov’s terrible regime, in what state will Ukraine be?
Frankly I dread to think.
The first thing that Ukraine’s friends have got to understand is that negotiations with putinaZis are a waste of time. The poisonous little fiend has got to be completely defeated.
US officials believe the Kremlin is preparing for a new winter offensive in Ukraine – one that would involve strikes on Ukrainian military positions and civilian infrastructure, making the war even more destructive.
According to The New York Times, citing the officials, some believe Putin will announce a new mobilization this autumn following the Duma elections. Others fear that a cornered Putin might escalate tensions with NATO and launch hybrid attacks across Europe in an attempt to fracture the alliance.
The officials assess that Putin may be prepared to continue the war for control of the Donbas region until the autumn of 2027. That timeframe could open a new window for negotiations. Such talks would become more likely if the Kremlin fails to achieve its goal of gaining full control over the Donetsk region, sources told.
Reportedly, France, Germany, and the UK are seeking to ensure European participation in these future negotiations regarding Ukraine, three officials reported. Representatives from these nations believe that resolving the war and shaping future relations with Russia are too critical to the region to rely solely on The White House, which appears increasingly unpredictable.
The UK, France, and Germany aim to position themselves as the primary European negotiators. These nations form the core of the “coalition of the willing” supporting Kyiv and are currently drafting options for security guarantees for Ukraine following a potential settlement.
Officials noted the need to consult with Poland, Italy, and the Nordics, adding that the European Union must be kept informed and eventually directly involved in the process. However, potential European participation in Ukraine negotiations is complicated by internal divisions within the EU itself. This is because certain countries – particularly those bordering Russia and Ukraine, such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Hungary – do not fully trust Germany and France to represent their interests.
According to Norbert Röttgen, Chairman of Deutscher Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Europeans are currently engaging in wishful thinking, given Putin’s lack of interest in negotiations. “At some point, Europe must have a presence, because its security is at stake and is no longer viewed by Washington as a vital interest. But for now, Putin sees an advantage in trying to drive a wedge into the West and engaging with Europe through the US,” Röttgen noted.
“Europeans hold the cards, but we need to play them wisely,” stated former German diplomat Hans-Dieter Lucas. He emphasized the need for close coordination with the US, warning that otherwise, Russia would “drive a wedge” between Western allies.
IOSI – Counter-Terrorism and Geopolitical Security.
Eighty days before the wave hits the wall.
A Sunday rant or is it a prayer?
ROBIN HORSFALL
AUG 16, 2026
https://robinhorsfall.substack.com/p/eighty-days-before-the-wave-hits?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Roman Sheremeta :
Something very strange is happening across Europe.
In the span of a single week, NATO countries have seen a remarkable series of incidents involving ammunition production, energy infrastructure, military facilities, and russian intelligence operations.
Let me start with what we know.
🇵🇱 POLAND
On 7 August, Polish security services detained a russian citizen, recruited by russian intelligence, whose task was to execute a man holding both American and Ukrainian citizenship – in Warsaw.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced it yesterday. According to him, this is the first time someone acting on russian orders has tried to kill an American citizen on the territory of another NATO country.
🇩🇪 GERMANY
On 6 August, a drone carrying explosives was found near a runway at Leipzig/Halle airport – next to a Ukrainian Antonov Airlines cargo aircraft. Two days later, two drones were spotted over the Bundeswehr base at Mechernich.
Also not a rumor.
🇮🇹 ITALY
A fire in the powder compression department at the KNDS Ammo Italy plant in Colleferro, southeast of Rome, was followed by a massive explosion. No one was killed. The plant produces 155 mm artillery ammunition supplied to Ukraine through European partners.
🇳🇱 NETHERLANDS
Within a few hours at Europe’s largest port: a transformer fire, a major power failure, an emergency shutdown at the ExxonMobil refinery in Botlek, and then an explosion at the Gunvor Energy refinery and terminal that killed one worker and injured six.
I wouldn’t be surprised if russia is responsible for all these “accidents”.
I wrote about this problem two years ago. Back then, Europe was already experiencing an extraordinary wave of suspicious incidents:
🇱🇹 IKEA set on fire in Vilnius.
🇬🇧 An arson attack on a Ukraine-linked warehouse in London.
🇩🇪 Sabotage plots against military and industrial targets in Germany.
🇨🇿 Attempts to attack infrastructure in the Czech Republic.
🇪🇪 An attack on the car of Estonia’s interior minister.
🚆 Attempts to disrupt European railway systems.
📦 And later, incendiary devices sent through European logistics networks – including devices that detonated or ignited in Germany, Poland and Britain.
At the time, people could argue these were isolated incidents.
Today, we know much more. European investigators and courts have connected multiple sabotage operations directly to networks organized or coordinated by russian intelligence.
The pattern was real. It was simply diagnosed late.
That is the design. Hybrid war works by staying below the threshold at which any single incident forces a response. Every event, taken alone, is deniable. Only the sequence gives it away.
Europe no longer has the luxury of automatically assuming accidents and coincidence.
Russia is waging a hybrid war against Europe. Sabotage. Arson. Cyberattacks. Assassination plots. GPS interference. Attacks on logistics and critical infrastructure.
These are not theoretical threats. They have already happened.