Roman Sheremeta

June 20, 2025

Trump gave Putin permission to do whatever he wants in Ukraine.

After Trump’s inauguration, the number of Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian territory more than doubled across 12 regions (see the graph). In some areas, like Odesa, the number increased tenfold.

During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to end the war in 24 hours. Many believed him. Instead, he has doubled Ukraine’s suffering, refusing to apply any pressure on the aggressor and siding with Putin.

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“We have a strategic advantage — why should we give it up? We are moving forward. We are advancing deeper into Ukraine and will continue to advance. We don’t need a ceasefire,” — Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary to the President of the russian federation.

Meanwhile, Trump has once again cowardly extended the deadline to take any action against russia. TACO has done this four times already.

“Just two more weeks.”
Always.

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A little boy stands next to a destroyed building in Kyiv, holding a packet of napkins, after russians destroyed his home and killed his friends.

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An American citizen who was killed in a russian attack on Kyiv this week was an artist from Oregon.

Fred Grandy was upset by the United States’ reversal in its support for Ukraine.

He arrived in Kyiv in May, close to his 62nd birthday, and volunteered to clean up the rubble left by russian attacks.

He was among the 28 people killed in a drone and missile assault on June 17.

Source: NYT

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Ukraine Cannot Accept Peace on the Kremlin’s Terms

Russia will not offer peace to Ukraine — no matter what Ukraine surrenders. The Kremlin wants nothing less than national erasure.

Ukraine faces a moment of acute national peril. Having fought a war for national survival against an imperialist neighbor that chose conquest as a means of colonial expansion, it now faces calls from some among its old friends in the U.S. to surrender territory.

This would not bring peace — it would result in Ukraine’s national destruction and immiseration.

Some Western politicians believe that when a country is invaded or occupied, the flag changes, but life goes on. They imagine people will adapt, pay taxes to a new government, and return to some version of normal life.

That is a dangerous illusion — especially when the occupying power has a long track record of mass repression, cultural erasure, and genocide.

In fact, so-called “peace” under occupation has often been worse than war. Because it’s not peace at all — it’s domination. The occupier doesn’t just want land; it wants control over identity, language, and memory. It wants to erase the very existence of the people it subjugates.

History is full of examples. One of the most striking was shared with me by a Ukrainian friend, Volodymyr Kukharenko — a tragic story about the Moriori people of what are now called the Chatham Islands in the South Pacific.

In 1835, a vessel carrying Maori warriors landed on the Moriori’s remote island. The Moriori were a peaceful, nonviolent people who had lived without war for hundreds of years. Instead of resisting, they welcomed the newcomers and offered to share the land and resources in peace. It was a decision rooted in hope and goodwill.

The result was a catastrophe. The Maori rejected the idea of coexistence. They massacred the Moriori, hunted them like animals, enslaved the survivors, and desecrated their cultural sites. Some Moriori were even cannibalized. Their language was banned. Their sacred places became toilets. Within a few decades, their civilization was all but erased.

If you think something like that couldn’t happen in Europe today, consider what befell Ukraine after it lost its war of independence in 1919 and was forcibly absorbed into the Soviet Union.

What followed was not peace. It was decades of terror. In 1932–1933, the Soviet regime engineered a famine — the Holodomor — to crush Ukrainian resistance to collectivization. Food was confiscated from Ukrainian villages. Borders were sealed. Up to seven million people died of starvation. It was a deliberate genocide, meant to break the Ukrainian spirit and erase national identity.

The terror didn’t stop there. In 1937, Stalin launched mass purges targeting Ukrainian intellectuals. Hundreds of poets, writers, scientists, and artists were executed. Ukrainian-language schools were shut down. Books were burned. The very idea of a separate Ukrainian culture was criminalized.

That is what Russian “peace” looked like then — and it is no different today.

In Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, such as Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea, and southern regions seized since 2022, Ukrainian identity is under constant attack. Speaking Ukrainian can get you arrested — or worse. Ukrainian books are being pulled from libraries and burned. Teachers who taught history or literature in Ukrainian have been executed.

In Bucha, after Russian forces retreated, mass graves were discovered — some containing the bodies of educators who had committed no crime other than sharing Ukrainian history.

Under occupation, cultural genocide begins almost immediately. Children are indoctrinated with Russian propaganda. Streets are renamed. Churches are closed or seized. Any trace of Ukrainian heritage is treated as a threat.

In such conditions, war is often safer than a fake peace. That’s the grim reality. Because in war, there is still resistance. There is still a chance to defend your dignity, your family, your land.
But under occupation, you are often left to be slaughtered quietly — in the dark, behind closed doors, with no one watching and no one to stop it.

This is why Ukraine continues to fight.

When foreign politicians or commentators suggest that Ukraine should negotiate with Russia — or give up land in exchange for peace — they either do not understand what is at stake, or they do not care.
What they are proposing is not a peace deal. It’s a death sentence for millions.

You cannot stop aggression by indulging it. You cannot end genocide by negotiating the terms of submission.

Russia must not be rewarded for its crimes. Its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its war crimes, and its ongoing acts of genocide must be met with justice — not appeasement.

History has shown us again and again: true peace does not come from giving in to evil. It comes from standing up to it.

And that’s what Ukraine is doing. Not just for itself — but for the world.

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Comment from :

Greg Basham

What I’m failing to grasp is how Europe is not flooding Ukraine with drones and munitions given how the USA is clearly siding with Russia and Trump wants Ukraine to surrender unconditionally and give Russia the territory it wants.

Here in Canada we hear that we’re not doing our part for NATO but what is Europe NATO and non-NATO doing for themselves given the current situation?

There has never been a better to degrade Russia’s military than now as Ukraine has proven over and over it has the military strategy, tactics and skills to do the job, if only Europe had the balls to stand up now before Ukraine and others fall.

Interestingly, on the Iranian front, that Russia’s “girl” Tulsi Gabbard is still touting Russian talking points and is being ignored by Trump.

If Trump was worried about Kompromat if he were to go too far with Russia, the reality is that MAGAs will never turn on their guy and the US Supreme Court has given Trump a get out of jail pass if there were allegations of crimes such as money laundering for Russian mobsters. .

William Pardy

The collective Media appears to suggest that Trump is a normal United States President. Instead, he has demonstrated that he is totally beholden to Putin.

I don’t know when they and everyone else will realize that Trump is following the playbook Putin gave him. He has no capability to make decisions on his own, and even if he could he would not be allowed.
 
Trump, talks tough as if he can do what he wants but his orders come from Putin that is quite evident. This is quite evident and demonstrates the power that Putin has over him.

He will do whatever Putin wants even totally diminish the power of the United States. He is in the process of dismantling the American military by with the low level drunk and abuser he appointed to head defense. He has already fired the military leadership.

The country’s chaos, confusion, and immigrant harassment are deliberate efforts to hide the real damages being carried out by all his acolytes, most of whom are connected to Putin.

This is bigger than Trump, his boss Putin is out to destroy America, the press does not even cover it. Trump answers to Putin.

Thomas W.

Trump is a traditional grifter, full of ego and self-serving motivations, who makes consistently false claims. He relies on others not to contradict him for fear of retribution.

One only needs to appreciate that as his first five months in office draw to a close, his only true accomplishment has been the closure of the southern border. His tariffs are causing turmoil and threatening the economy. His deportation policy is undermining the legal concept of ‘due process’ as he struggles to find a million criminals to deport. His international policies are disruptive and lack logical reasoning, other than soundbite concepts. Yet, he accepted a used aircraft to be updated and converted into a presidential aircraft, which will eventually be transferred to his presidential library for personal use.

Trump is interested in anything that provides him with an opportunity to create a knickknack souvenir for sale. He is developing his own line of cryptocurrency while simultaneously pushing through legislation to support its value and distribution for sale.

By the end of the year, his entertaining shenanigans will wear thin, leading to cracks in his support base that will ultimately be his biggest challenge in maintaining relevance.🤔

Tamara Krawchenko

Russians did everything they could to help get him elected and it’s paying off.

Tuire Salonen

This is something that has to be asked from all those who are thinking that the negotiation is the way. What would they think if they were in the same situation. Would they be ok to change their flag, their national anthem, rewrite the history so that it suits the occupier, and erase all the history, memories and culture of your own. And also change your language and be punished if you don’t. So how would they feel? Russia doesn’t want peace, it is so clear, so why don’t some countries and leaders understand it.

Kay Din

Ukrainians should accept the option of ceding 25% of their territory in the five regions of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson to Russia in exchange for peace (including 20% of Russian-controlled territory and 5% of Ukrainian-controlled territory in the remaining parts of these five regions). During the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, Mexico ceded 50% of its territory to the United States to end the war. During the Chilean-Bolivian War of 1879-1883, Bolivia ceded part of its territory to Chile to end the war, but ironically that part of its territory was coastal land and Bolivia became a landlocked country. During the Finnish-Soviet War in the winter of 1940, Finland ceded part of its territory to the Soviet Union to end the war, and that part of its territory was deeply Finnish in character. Ukrainians are still very lucky that they do not have to cede 50% of their territory like Mexico, Ukrainians still have sea views in Odessa, Mykolaiv while Bolivians cannot see the sea, the territories that Russia annexed from Ukraine still have a strong Russian national identity while the territory Finland ceded to the Soviet Union has no Russian national identity.

Ginny Howe-Day

Roman Sheremeta. Did you write that yourself? It is very good and I would like to share it but want to properly credit whoever wrote it.

Roman Sheremeta

Ginny Howe Day yes, I wrote this for CEPA:

Ukraine Cannot Accept Peace on the Kremlin’s Terms

Norman Gregg

Thank you so much for the complete history. I didn’t realize it was that deep. I do realize Putin is an animal & wants power & land & to destroy Ukraine all together, history, people, language etc. Its time the world, all countries to band together & if it means War for us as well, so be it. Its time these bullies learn they can’t have there way. I will stand with Ukraine, I will die to defend against such tyranny. Putin is such a creep.

Doug Voss

Yes. Putin wants the 3 Eastern Slavic nations to be one union, with Putin as the dictator that keeps all 3 nations under his thumb. Then what’s next? After his military is reconstituted, will he go after the 3 Baltic nations, or fold Moldova into the 3 nation union, or go after Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan? Everything pivots on the outcome of Ukraine. Putin has all the time he needs. Ukraine ‘s time is slipping away thanks to Trump being told what to do by Putin. Really sad state of affairs.

Gail Potter

A couple of many good quotes from this article: “Some Western politicians believe that when a country is invaded or occupied, the flag changes, but life goes on. They imagine people will adapt, pay taxes to a new government, and return to some version of normal life.”
“That is a dangerous illusion — especially when the occupying power has a long track record of mass repression, cultural erasure, and genocide.” “Russia must not be rewarded for its crimes. Its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its war crimes, and its ongoing acts of genocide must be met with justice — not appeasement.”
“History has shown us again and again: true peace does not come from giving in to evil. It comes from standing up to it.”
“And that’s what Ukraine is doing. Not just for itself — but for the world.”

Norma Clarkson

One Ukrainian’s plea: “Am I being naive, wondering every day why the crimes of Russians remain unpunished? Or is it easier for the world to forget all this and pretend that none of the following events happened?
The massacre in Bucha. The siege of Mariupol and the deadly shelling of the local theatre. A missile attack on the Kramatorsk railway station. Mass graves in Izium. Torture chambers in Kherson. A rocket attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv. Destruction of the Kakhovka dam. Nearly a quarter of the country occupied. Crimea. Parts of Donetsk and Luhansk. Hundreds of destroyed towns: Vuhledar, Bakhmut, Avdiivka. Now Pokrovsk. Kostiantynivka is next.
Thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russians. Thousands of missing Ukrainian soldiers. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians killed. Thousands in Russian captivity. Dozens of executions captured on camera, when Russians killed those who surrendered.
Every Russian war crime has a perpetrator. Someone who pulled the trigger, someone who equipped the missiles. Someone who supplied parts for their weapons. Someone who stole the children. Someone who settled in the occupied Ukrainian cities. And now, in addition to Russian and Iranian shells (and support from about 20 countries around the world) we are being attacked by the military from North Korea.
Now justice is under threat. Right before our eyes, a world order is being formed in which truth as a category does not exist. Donald Trump says, look, here is my truth. There is your truth. But my truth is on top. That was not a Nazi salute at the inauguration celebrations. Tribunals are impossible. The rule of law is irrelevant.
If during the first term of Trump’s presidency we talked of the post-truth era, now we find ourselves in a world in which the truth is taken out, tortured and shot. This means that there will be no justice. This means that anything goes.
Russia has been living like this for centuries. But now the two macho presidents, both in their 70s, one with an arrest warrant from the international criminal court, and the other the first US president to have a mugshot taken after being criminally charged, seem to be getting along well.
The world is looking at the body of truth that is dying and bleeding before our eyes. I beg you, if you can’t stop the bleeding, at least don’t turn away from the sight of blood.”