Real peace talks will start in 2025 without Zelensky

Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly stated twice already that Ukraine would not be able to return "some parts of the country that Russia has occupied, including Crimea, by force." It appears that Zelensky has been having some difficult times lately.

Photo: website President of Ukraine by PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY Official website is licensed under commons. wikimedia. org

Ukraine President on work visit

In an interview with Kyodo News, Zelensky said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine "do not have enough strength to return Crimea and other territories.

"We really need to find diplomatic solutions," he said.

He made a similar statement in an interview with Sky News a week earlier.

Zelensky complained in both cases that support for Ukraine from partners was "insufficient." He called on NATO to invite Kyiv to negotiations on membership in the alliance as soon as possible. According to him, US President-elect Donald Trump knows Ukraine's position and its victory plan to "let diplomacy to work."

The condition for Ukraine's accession to NATO is unacceptable for Russia. Zelensky wants to look like a peacemaker, so that sanctions would be applied to Moscow, and he would get more American weapons.

Trump chose Orban as a negotiator

However, Trump also knows that many NATO member states will not sign up for Ukraine's admission to the alliance. Trump regularly consults Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on this matter.

The Hungarian press indicates that Trump is interested in what Orban thinks about the imminent end of the war and what time limits he sees for the settlement. Trump also tried to find out Orban's thoughts on Russia's ability to continue the special military operating and "how resilient Putin's government is to challenges of war."

The Hungarian Prime Minister earlier said that Russia has incomparably more resources than Ukraine. Orban has also repeatedly said that arms supplies to Kyiv should be stopped. It appears that Orban becomes Trump's main negotiator. The Hungarian Prime Minister may go on a new peacekeeping trip to try to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.

In addition, Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump's nominee for the post of the Special Representative for Ukraine, rejected provisions on freezing the front line and Ukraine's refusal to return Russia-held territories in exchange for its membership in NATO.

Trump cannot help but understand that Ukraine's weak point is its decreasing mobilization potential. Another weak point is infrastructure. If Russia revises its humane approaches to warfare, USA's large-scale military aid will be useless.

Trump is currently working for domestic audiences, and many of his suggestions may seem inadequate. Zelensky is working for the general public outside Ukraine in the first place. When it comes to internal audiences, he says that the Constitution does not allow Ukraine to cede territory to the Russian Federation.

The Ukrainian general public will protest against the decision he announced. One "crazy" part will consider this an act of betrayal, the other one will say: "Why didn't you fulfill the Istanbul agreements, not to mention the Minsk ones?" The Ukrainians will shift the blame for all the losses from Russia to Zelensky, and this will sentence him to death.

The special military operation in Ukraine will last until mid-2025 at least. Real peace negotiations will begin when the Russian forces take or surround major cities, such as Zaporozhye, Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk. Apparently, the peace talks will start without Zelensky.

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Viktor Mihály Orbán (born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been Prime Minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 2003, and previously from 1993 to 2000. He was re-elected as prime minister in 2014, 2018, and 2022. On 29 November 2020, he became the country's longest-serving prime minister. Orbán was first elected to the National Assembly in 1990 and led Fidesz's parliamentary group until 1993. During his first term as prime minister and head of the conservative coalition government, from 1998 to 2002, inflation and the fiscal deficit shrank, and Hungary joined NATO. After losing reelection, however, Orbán led the opposition party from 2002 to 2010.