DONALD TRUMP DEMANDS UKRAINE & RUSSIA END WAR

Written by Michael Thervil

Photo by Russia's Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 18, 2025, US President Donald Trump in the White House on March 13, 2025, and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. © Maxim Shemetov, Mandel Ngan, Saul Loeb, AFP

[Donald Trump Russia Ukraine] Yesterday in what appeared to be a “fit” at the White House, American President Donald Trump threatened both Russia and Ukraine with tariffs and sanctions if neither side finds a solution to the war between them. President Trump stated:

“Thousands of young people, mostly young people, are dying every single week. If I can save that, by doing sanctions or just by being me, or by using a very strong tariff system that’s very costly to Russia or Ukraine or whoever we have.”

While president trump seemed adamant about both countries finding a way to end the war, many of President Trump critics on his foreign policy remain largely skeptical that neither President Trump nor Ukraine “holds any cards” that would serve as leverage to sway Russia to stop its counter-offensive. While President Trump is calling for Zelensky to sign a peace ceasefire deal with Russia, Russia appears uninterested in entertaining the thought of Zelensky doing so as he is neither president nor an elected official of Ukraine. Without at least one of those prerequisites being filled, Russia views Zelensky as "illegitimate".

President Trump in recent days since the Alaska summit has been increasingly dismissive of Russia's claims about Zelensky.

OUR POSITION AT VEDA COMMUNICATIONS

It can be considered foolheartedly on the side of President Trump to willfully dismiss Russia's position on the legitimacy of Zelensky. The reason for this is simply because without any legal framework put in place, whatever contract, agreement, or clause that could be agreed upon by both sides would technically be invalid. Secondly, President Trump's failure to fully grasp and understand not only the history of both Ukraine and Russia, but the root cause as to why the hot war is ensuing between both nations will do nothing to bring about a ceasefire, let alone peace between the two nations.

Another thing that must be addressed is that the situation between both countries is the sole business of both countries and that America has no right to interfere in the affairs of neither Russia nor Ukraine. This means that President Trump doesn’t have the right to play “Daddy” and therefore back away and focus on more immediate domestic issues. However, since the Trump Administration continued to provide Ukraine with weapons and military assistance, the Trump Administration is just as culpable as the Biden Administration in terms of significantly increasing the length of the war to the point to where it is now.

Whether President Trump applies tariffs and sanctions or not is irrelevant through the eyes of Russia as they are the most sanctioned country on the planet and despite being the most sanctioned country on the planet; Russia is still thriving – in fact, Russia has exceeded its own growth projections and forecast. In addition to that, Russia is winning this hot war against Ukraine; so, there is absolutely no incentive for Russia to worry about President Trump's threats to increase sanctions or tariffs. Keep in mind that tariffs only hurt the working class in any society regardless of them being Socialist, Capitalist, or Communist.