Munich, Germany , 14 February (H.S.): U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker delivered a sobering assessment at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, asserting that Russia may prove perpetually unwilling to forge a viable peace accord concluding its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, contrasting sharply with President Donald Trump's sanguine overtures.
Whitaker, addressing a panel, affirmed Kyiv's readiness for a reasonable and fair settlement under extant exigencies, yet professed skepticism toward Moscow's disposition: I just am not convinced that ultimately the Russians are ready to make a deal, or ever will be able to make a deal.
This contrapuntal narrative punctuates Trump's daytime exhortation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky must get moving as Russia wants to make a deal, despite U.S.-brokered parleys yielding naught amid Kremlin's insistence on territorial cessions—including Donetsk evacuation—and Kyiv's countervailing demands for ironclad Western security compacts forestalling resurgence.
The dissonance bespeaks transatlantic fissures as Trump accelerates conflict terminus—unleashed nearly four years prior—juxtaposed Whitaker's realism, with Ukraine rebuffing unilateral withdrawals tantamount to surrender while courting deterrence bulwarks contra prospective revanchism.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
