Zelensky plans to take the transfer of Donbas to the polls to dilute US pressures

The current problem is that the Constitution does not allow such a call while martial law is in force, so Zelensky has committed to trying to approve the necessary amendments in Parliament.

If it were not possible, the kyiv Government is now considering the possibility of calling a referendum, in the conviction that citizens would not simply accept the surrender of a territory for which tens of thousands of compatriots have died.

The reason seems simple: there is nothing historical in Donetsk or Lugansk that associates these two provinces with Russia, or any more than Odessa, Kharkiv or Zaporizhzhia. Until the industrialization of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they were two nondescript regions with an abundant Turkish presence. There is nothing in Donetsk or Lugansk, therefore, that will quench the imperialist thirst for Vladimir Putin.

The current importance stems, on the one hand, from said industrialization, since it is the most economically prosperous area in Ukraine, and, on the other hand, from the fact that the largest defensive core loyal to Zelensky is located in the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

The fall—or cession—of both cities could cause the front to collapse to the natural border of the Dnieper River. The entire Ukrainian military strategy has been based on the all-out defense of these two bastions. Giving them away now, without further ado, seems reckless.

Rutte announces World War III

And yet, as Putin promised Steve Witkoff y Jared Kushner that with that would settle for a ceasefire, Donald Trump is hell-bent on making Ukraine sacrifice those territories.

That, despite the suspicion that Russia is not going to stop there and despite the evidence of the words of its Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrovwho insisted this Thursday that peace would not come until “the real causes of the conflict” were resolved, that is, in addition to the mantra of denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine—which the Americans shamelessly adopted in their original peace plan—the study of NATO’s role in Eastern Europe.

The good thing for Moscow is that it doesn’t have to convince anyone in this: Trump, J.D. Vance and a good part of the current US Administration hate NATO and would leave without hesitation if the consequences were not tremendous for the security of their own country and the stability of the Western world in the short term.

Now, the objective, as was made clear in the national security document published by the White House last week, is to continue strengthening the far-right “patriotic” parties on the continent so that they are the ones that, one by one, remove their countries from all internationalist organizations, starting with the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance.

The pessimism is such that Mark RutteSecretary General of NATO, stated this Thursday that Russia has once again brought the war to Europe and that the Alliance “is the next objective”, an objective that could materialize in an attack within five years.

“We must be prepared to live through a war on the scale of those of our grandparents and great-grandparents,” said Rutte, who gave as an example of Putin’s cruelty the fact that Russia is losing 1,200 soldiers a day and yet is not seriously considering a truce.

Trump, “fed up with meetings”

The current division between the United States and old Europe seems total, to the delight, precisely, of Putin and his propagandists.

Last Wednesday, Trump spoke by phone with the chancellor Friedrich Merzthe prime minister Keir Starmer and the president Emmanuel Macronthe visible heads of the so-called Coalition of the Willing in support of Ukraine. According to Merz, the conversation was “constructive.” According to Trump, it was not so much, criticizing the use of “strong words” regarding his peace plan.

In any case, these talks will continue, in principle, this Saturday in Paris, where a delegation from Ukraine and the European Union will meet with a US delegation to study point by point possible modifications to the memorandum.

The meeting was considered done, but Trump made it known late Thursday through the White House spokeswoman, Caroline Leavittwho “was tired of meeting just to meet” and wanted to take action now.

What does seem clear is that the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor will not be at the meeting, once again, Marco Rubio.

Although he was at the Geneva talks three weeks ago, in general the highest representative of US diplomacy tends to be absent too frequently from meetings in which the security and international relations of his country are defined.

The general will not be retired either Keith Kellogginitially appointed by Trump as his Administration’s special envoy to the Ukraine war and later censored by the Kremlin.

Larry Fink joins negotiating team

On the other hand, who could be there would be the CEO of the investment fund BlackRock, Larry Finkone of the richest men in the world. Fink would thus join the team of businessmen negotiators already composed of Kushner and Witkoff.

Trump continues to see geopolitical conflicts as the equivalent of a trade dispute and that is why he leaves their solution in the hands of experts in the field.

Now, what seems to have worked in Gaza, where one side had a huge advantage over the other—and in turn a huge disadvantage over the United States itself—does not have to work when imperialism and supremacism come into play.

Trump is looking for a way to reactivate trade with Russia and enrich his environment along the way. If that means exploiting Ukrainian rare earths, go ahead. If it means then abandoning Zelensky in favor of who he considers a more powerful ally, there is no problem.

Europe, on the other hand, has much more at stake in the matter. It is not surprising, therefore, that he refuses a provisional solution that favors Russia, since that would in turn put it at a disadvantage compared to the Kremlin.

It is not businessmen who negotiate in Europe, but politicians: both the United Kingdom, France and Germany will send their security experts to the Paris meeting.