Putin proves again he cannot be trusted hes out for domination

With every passing day, the Trump administration’s effort to bring about an end to the war in Ukraine through a real estate-like deal, swapping land for peace, looks increasingly futile.No amount of flattery or concessions to Russia can change the fact that Vladimir Putin is not interested simply in establishing control over some contested territories, supposedly populated by Russian speakers.He wants to end Ukraine’s existence as an independent nation, capable of charting its own course without the Kremlin’s boot on its neck.Earlier this week, Russia violated the partial ceasefire of attacks on energy infrastructure by bombing energy facilities in Kherson.“Not long ago I said we’d grind [Ukraine] down,” Putin then declared on Friday, “now it looks like we’ll finish them off.”Together with a relentless, daily pounding of Ukrainian cities, it should not be difficult for President Trump to see that he is dealing with an untrustworthy, bad-faith actor who must be stopped and deterred — not accommodated or befriended.Yet, accommodation seems to be a preferred route for many in the administration, presumably including for President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, now also in charge of negotiations with Russia.In the course of his interview with Tucker Carlson, Witkoff waxed lyrical about the putative affection that Putin, a reputed manipulator and former KGB officer, harbored for President Trump.“When the president was shot,” he said, Putin supposedly “went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed” — before commissioning a “beautiful painting” of the US president.Worse yet, any visible progress in the negotiations in Saudi Arabia seems to be coming at the price of significant US concessions to the Kremlin.While Ukrainians accepted the idea of a partial ceasefire in the Black Sea essentially without conditions, US negotiators had to lure Russia by offering to restore Russian access to world grain ...