American private military firms could be deployed to Ukraine as part of a long-term peace plan.
Donald Trump is in talks with European allies about allowing armed contractors to help build fortifications to protect American interests in the country.
Tag: Office of the President of Ukraine
Political Lanterns
The Importance of Donbass
US ‘just about’ ready to lift Ukraine intel freeze, Trump says ahead of Saudi meet
US ‘just about’ ready to lift Ukraine intel freeze, Trump says ahead of Saudi meet
The U.S. is “just about” ready to lift its freeze on intelligence sharing with Ukraine, President Donald Trump said Sunday, as American and Ukrainian negotiators prepare for bilateral talks in Saudi Arabia intended to move toward a peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion.
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The U.S. delegation in Saudi Arabia will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz. The Ukrainian team will be led by Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office. The U.S. side is expecting Ukraine to show willingness to make peace, Trump suggested on Sunday.
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Trump and his top officials have said that both Ukraine and Russia will be expected to make concessions in pursuit of a peace deal to end Moscow’s invasion, which itself is only the latest chapter in more than a decade of cross-border aggression.
Trump last week suggested in a post to Truth Social that he was “strongly considering large-scale sanctions” and tariffs on Russia until a deal is reached, adding that Moscow “is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now.” Trump also told a joint session of Congress he had received “strong signals” that Russia is ready to make peace.
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The Kremlin has also cited a September 2022 Ukrainian decree in which Zelenskyy declared negotiations with Putin “impossible,” after Moscow claimed to have annexed four partially-occupied Ukrainian regions.
On Monday, Peskov told journalists that Russia’s read on this week’s meeting “is not important.”
“What is important here is what the United States expects at various levels,” he continued. “We have repeatedly heard statements that the U.S. expects the Ukrainians to demonstrate their desire for peace. That’s probably what everybody is waiting for. Whether the members of the Zelenskyy regime really want peace or not. Of course, this is very important and it is necessary to decide.”
Zelensky’s wear and tear
Zelensky’s wear and tear (original)
For more than two and a half years, war has been the raison d’être of the Ukrainian state. The budget presented by Kyiv this week allocates more than 50% of the budget to the defence sector – to which must be added the cost of veterans – something that has been repeated since 2022. Maintaining the front, avoiding its collapse and ensuring that there is still enough support to continue fighting until the objectives are achieved is the priority of the government team, which has set aside practically all other obligations of the state, which today depends entirely on foreign subsidies that make it possible to pay salaries and pensions. One of the aspects that has completely disappeared under the cover of the unity demanded by the war is precisely domestic politics. The Russian invasion gave Zelensky’s team the opportunity to create for the president the image of a war leader, the representation of the nation, a savior capable of achieving what he sets out to do, the only person capable of rescuing the country from certain ruin.
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Ukraine: Victory Plan
Victory Plan (Google Translate)
“We hear the word negotiations from our partners, but the word justice is heard much less often,” Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday in his speech to the Ukrainian Rada. “Ukraine is open to diplomacy, but honest diplomacy. That is why we have the Peace Formula. It is a guarantee of negotiating without forcing Ukraine to accept injustice. Ukrainians deserve a decent peace,” the Ukrainian president continued in his presentation of the Victory Plan to deputies and other authorities of the country’s political and security apparatus. Kiev’s intentions are clear: to achieve a position of strength in which Ukraine does not have to yield to Russian demands. Nothing indicates that there has been any change in the way of thinking of the Ukrainian leadership, which has always understood justice as something that only the part of the population under its control deserves, without those on the other side of the front and whose territories it aspires to recover having a say in the future of the country.
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Sites covering the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church blocked in Ukraine + Ukrainian government hires lobbyists in the U.S. to support the law on banning the UOC
Sites covering the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church blocked in Ukraine
A number of major sites covering the activities and the plight of the persecuted canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, including an official UOC resource, have been blocked in Ukraine.
The blocked sites include the UOC’s Information-Education Department (news.church.ua), the Union of Orthodox Journalists (spzh.media), Orthodox Life (pravlife.org), and Raskolam.net. This was reported by both the Union of Orthodox Journalists and Raskolam.net.
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Last month, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) raided the homes and offices and arrested several members of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, who now face life in prison for a number of charges related to their reporting on the persecution of the UOC.
Related:
Ukrainian government hires lobbyists in the U.S. to support the law on banning the UOC – mass media
The Hunter Biden / Ihor Kolomoïsky affair
The Biden Administration is finally reacting to the scandals that have arisen from the computer of the president’s son, Hunter Biden. This loser, whose only known activities are those of a junkie and a pimp, managed to become the director of a large gas company; a job he knows nothing about. A man of straw, he signed all sorts of big contracts, in different countries, where he travelled -without right- in official US planes. His father is now launching an operation to cover up his affairs, which has led him to clean up the Ukrainian government.
The Hunter Biden / Ihor Kolomoïsky affair
H/T: Unorthodox Truth
Related:
Fascinating Timing: Home of Ukrainian Oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky Raided
Nuland: US auditors arrive in Ukraine to ensure ‘no aid or weapons are diverted.’ + NABU
Nuland: US auditors arrive in Ukraine to ensure ‘no aid or weapons are diverted.’
This week, the U.S. has its auditors working in Ukraine alongside the World Bank and Deloitte consultants to make sure that “no aid or weapons are diverted,” U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said on Jan. 26.
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On Jan. 23, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU)* said that it had begun investigating possible corruption in the Defense Ministry’s food procurement.
The statement followed an investigation by Ukrainian news outlet ZN.UA**, which alleged that the Defense Ministry was buying food for soldiers at inflated prices, indicating a possible corruption scheme.
Related:
The Kiev Purge: Turmoil in the Capital
The anti-graft stories are being driven by media outlets connected with Ukraine’s Western partners and Poroshenko, who has become Zelensky’s main competitor, since the latter had opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk jailed. For example, on January 23, a number of pro-Western journalists launched a direct attack on Andrey Yermak – the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine and a key player in the system.
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The combat operations in Ukraine merely accelerated these processes. In fact, only three powers can now speak out against the Zelensky-Yermak team— Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko and his cabinet, the army led by Valery Zaluzhny, and US-controlled structures such as NABU and media affiliated with them. At the same time, decisions regarding resignations are made exclusively by Zelensky and Yermak, who by all means wish to hush up the scandals.
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Notes:
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Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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