Peace is not an option for Russia as Trumps chosen envoy preps travel to Kyiv

While retired Army Lt.Gen. Keith Kellogg – President-elect Donald Trump’s chosen special envoy for Ukraine and Russia – prepares to travel to Kyiv and several other European capitals in January to discuss options to bring the war in Ukraine to an end, the Kremlin is setting conditions to win the war now.Peace is not an option for Moscow.

Only NATO capitulation.In rejecting Kellogg’s plan first proffered in April, Vassily Nebenz, Russia’s representative to the United Nations, declared on Monday: “No schemes to freeze the [Ukrainian] conflict are agreeable to Russia.”Dmitry Medvedev recently said out loud what Russian President Vladimir Putin and his comrades in Moscow are thinking, “Today, Ukraine faces a choice to be with Russia or to disappear from the world map altogether.”Nonetheless, Putin says he is ready for peace talks “anytime” with Trump.

During his annual end-of-year press conference on Thursday, he stated “We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises.”Yet Putin’s peace terms remain unrealistic.He has no intention of allowing Ukraine to remain a free and sovereign nation.Russia is postured for war, not peace talks.

Ahead of Trump’s second presidency, the Kremlin is doubling down on its relentless assaults on Ukrainian defensive positions, civilian population centers, and energy infrastructure.Putin’s saber-rattling is also increasing.During his end-of-year conference, he highlighted the use of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile in Ukraine, boasting it was unstoppable while dismissing Western skepticism about the missile.

He even challenged the U.S.and NATO to a “high-tech missile duel.” Putin sardonically proposed that Washington and Brussels select a “target for destruction” in Kyiv and see if NATO could “stop it in time.”Echoing Nazi Germany, the Oreshnik hypersonic missile has become Putin’s equivalent of Adolf Hitler’s V2 rocket.

Underscoring his psych-op against ...