An unnamed senior US Defense Department official told the media on Monday evening that Trump decided to freeze all military aid to Ukraine until its leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace.
This comes just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky picked a fight with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House.
The Wall Street Journal earlier predicted that Ukraine could only continue fighting at its current level until this summer in such a scenario. Here are five takeaways from this monumental development:
1. Trump is serious about brokering peace
Zelensky made it clear during his disastrous visit to the White House last Friday that he’s dead set on continuing the fight and still seeks NATO membership and Western troops.
Those calls are unacceptable to Trump since they would, as he said, risk World War III, but so too could continuing the conflict.
Trump, therefore, likely realized that the only way to force Zelensky to the peace table with Putin is to freeze all military aid until he moderates his perceived by Trump as extreme stance.
2. Trump and Putin likely have a secret agreement
Trump said last week that “a ceasefire could take place immediately”, which was possibly an inadvertent admission of a secret agreement with Putin.
Lasting peace can’t likely be reached until after the next Ukrainian presidential elections, but they can’t be held without lifting martial law, ergo the need for a ceasefire.
Although Putin earlier conditioned this on Ukraine withdrawing from the disputed regions, he might support a ceasefire to justify the US’ curtailed aid to Ukraine and legitimize Russian-US economic deals.
3. But it’s not yet a comprehensive one
If the speculation is accurate, then it doesn’t mean that those two have a comprehensive agreement.
Serious issues such as the final Russian-Ukrainian border and the question of peacekeepers have yet to be agreed and might not be resolved till after the next Ukrainian presidential and parliamentary elections.
It’s, therefore, premature to predict that the Line of Contact will become the final border and that Western peacekeepers will be deployed there, especially since Russia opposes both.
4. Poland might have a pivotal role to play
About 90% of Western military aid to Ukraine transits through Poland so Trump might ask it to stop the Europeans from using its territory to arm Ukraine during a ceasefire in exchange for post-conflict perks.
He doesn’t want the Brits, French or Germans emboldening Ukraine to violate the ceasefire or provoke Russia into doing so and can incentivize Poland to prevent this by promising to keep American troops there, possibly redeploy some from Germany to Poland and turn Poland into its top partner in Europe.
5. The “New Detente” is Trump’s top priority
Every major move that’s taken place since Trump’s call with Putin in mid-February has been predicated on advancing his grand strategic goal of a Russian–US “New Détente”, the gist of which is to revolutionize international relations through a game-changing comprehensive partnership.
It’s the pursuit of this goal that ultimately drove Trump to make the fateful decision to freeze all military aid to Ukraine.
Transatlantic ties, Russian-US relations and the nature of American hegemony are all transforming before everyone’s eyes as Trump makes bold moves to force Zelensky to the peace table with Putin.
His latest one was literally one of the worst-case scenarios from Ukraine’s and Europe’s perspective, but there’s little that they can do in response other than capitulate to his demands.
The US holds all the cards, like Trump reminded Zelensky last Friday, and those who think otherwise risk paying the price.
This article was first published on Andrew Korybko’s Substack and is republished with kind permission. Become an Andrew Korybko Newsletter subscriber here.
