Mixed signals from Administration

The recent peace push by the Administration seems to be losing steam

Gen Kellogg states that a deal is close, according to Reuters.

Donald Trump Jr says Trump might walk away from Ukraine if peace isn’t reached, according to Politico.

Similar contradicting statements coming out of Ukraine and Russia.

Assume no one knows anything so nothing to report.

On the other hand, this scathing article by Adrian Karatnycky about the failures of the Biden policy towards Ukraine and the pernicious effect on the present status of the war.

Adrian has been covering Ukraine for 2 decades and has incredible access to everyone in country. Last year, he published Battleground Ukraine, one of the two best books on modern Ukraine.

Adrian details the missed opportunities after the liberation of Kherson due to restrictions imposed by the Biden Administration. He makes the case that this is the key reason for the stalemate and defeatism which we see today.

I quote his final paragraph in full:

Biden’s shaping of Ukraine’s war lives on under Trump. And while the latter deserves some credit for his vigorous attempts to push for an end to the fighting, he is unlikely to succeed, as the bungled efforts of his envoy, Steve Witkoff, show. Reaching a lasting peace will require forcing Putin to the bargaining table. For that to happen, Trump would first need to end Biden’s war by allowing Ukraine to more effectively fight its own. Such a war—sustained by European financing (including the use of frozen Russian reserves), enabled by the unconstrained use of U.S. and allied weapons (including the ability to strike targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg), and accompanied by strong secondary sanctions—remains the quickest path to bring the conflict to an end.