Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain
Those who call themselves “pacifists” and have been fighting for more than four years to prevent Ukrainians from receiving weapons should now be rejoicing, for they have just gained a high-profile supporter: U.S. President Donald Trump has categorically refused both to give the Ukrainians Patriot missiles and to provide them with the technology to manufacture them themselves. And so, day after day, Russian ballistic missiles are currently raining down on Ukraine’s major and smaller cities and their defenseless civilians, missiles that have already claimed thousands of lives and left many maimed—which, of course, can only bring us closer… to peace.
And yet, the Ukrainian men and women are not only resisting but are also launching a counterattack! And they’re doing so even though they’re caught between an all-powerful, barbaric imperialist and colonialist enemy—which systematically targets civilians—and a neoliberal Ukrainian government that serves exclusively the oligarchs and its Western “friends.” And if they are resisting and counterattacking, it is because they trust no one but themselves, because they are waging a genuinely popular war. As is the case right now, for example, when “the bulk of their innovation” in the production of drones—which allow them to strike deep into Russia with great force— “is not carried out in the West or in the private arms companies of the Kyiv oligarchs, but in workshops, garages, and kitchens funded by families, volunteers, and small networks of donors, including the anarchist collective Solidarity Collectives” (1)
But the price to pay is enormous. The war in Ukraine, which has already lasted longer than World War II (!) and has resulted in more than 2 million dead and wounded (!), has cost Ukrainians alone (military and civilians) between 525,000 and 625,000 casualties, including 125,000 to 150,000 dead. (2) And it must be emphasized that while the wealthy evade military service by paying bribes to corrupt officials, it is those from nelow— the poor, the workers, the employees, and the peasants who are shedding their blood by fighting on the front lines, often without interruption for 2, 3, or even 4 years. For example, Ukrainian railroad workers—who are a top priority target for the Russian enemy—have suffered more than 1,300 deaths and approximately 3,000 injuries since the start of the war…
The bloodbath, which has already surpassed that of Stalingrad (!), is so horrific that even the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov—whose statements are usually highly ambiguous—had to admit—at last—that “It all began as a special military operation. It continues as a war.”Indeed, with more than 450,000 military personnel killed and nearly 1 million wounded or missing since the start of the war—and, above all, with nearly 30,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded each month recently—to continue referring to this as a mere “special military operation” would be more than just a euphemism; it would be an admission of helplessness. Moreover, it is precisely because of this Russian impotence that the war—which was supposed to end in a matter of days with the Russian army’s triumphant entry into Kyiv—has already lasted more than four and a half years. And it is also because of this same Russian powerlessness that Putin’s regime is forced to beg for help from the tragicomic (hereditary) North Korean dictator, who sends tens of thousands of his poor compatriots to the front lines in Ukraine to serve as cannon fodder for his friend and accomplice, Vladimir Putin.
But it gets worse when Putin’s agents trap thousands of young Africans, Arabs, Asians, and Latin Americans who are desperately seeking work, only to send them—against their will—to the front lines and to almost certain death. Thus, lured by false promises of jobs with astronomical salaries or scholarships, more than 1,400 young Africans from 35 countries—mostly Egyptians (361), Cameroonians (335), Ghanaians (234), and South Africans, as well as thousands of Syrians, Yemenis, Iraqis, Cubans, or Nepalese (numbering at least 15,000), have been forcibly recruited and sent to the front—and to their deaths—after signing contracts in Russian, of which they did not understand a single word.(3)
The testimonies of the few lucky ones who were able to return to their countries sparked an outcry of indignation in most African nations, which until then had been sympathetic to Russia. Denouncing not only the fact that the Russians had confiscated their passports and were effectively holding them prisoners, but also that they were mistreating them and exhibiting violent and humiliating anti-Black racism, the “escapees” moved and shocked public opinion—and even the authorities in their own countries—who are now demanding that Russia immediately repatriate their citizens, as well as the bodies of the deceased.
The fact is that Putin’s problems and missteps are becoming increasingly numerous, and he appears more and more trapped in a war that he sought out and has personally led from day one. In fact, just like his friend Trump, who is also trapped in his war against Iran. Both are hopelessly mired in their respective quagmires, and despite their Machiavellianism, they seem increasingly unable to find a way out. Except that Putin, who has always stood out for his boundless cynicism, seems to have, for some time now, a few “ideas” that might no longer leave the American president indifferent. For example, the idea of a quid pro quo deal that would help Trump extricate himself from the dead ends of his war against Iran in exchange for Trump’s complete abandonment of Ukraine!
Of course, we’re not privy to the same information as CIA Director John Ratcliffe to know whether his highly publicized “routine” trip to Moscow had anything to do with Mr. Putin’s “idea.” However, we do know that last March, the international media reported on a revelation by Politico that Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev had proposed the following deal to U.S. negotiators Steve Wittkoff and Jared Kushner during their meeting in Miami: that “ Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the U.S. under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia. ” (4)
This was not the first time Putin had proposed such a deal to Trump. Thus, while commenting on the U.S. military operation in Venezuela that led to the removal of its president, Nicolás Maduro, we recalled another “deal” of the same kind proposed to Trump by the Kremlin. Here is what we wrote in January 2026: “Testifying before the U.S. Congress in 2019, Fiona Hill, then Trump’s senior advisor for Russia and Europe, reported on ‘suggestions’ from Kremlin-linked circles regarding Moscow’s possible acceptance of a U.S. occupation of Venezuela in exchange for Washington’s acceptance of a Russian occupation of Ukraine.” And the article concluded as follows: “Referring back a few days ago to her 2019 testimony, Ms. Hill stated that the lack of reaction and the relative passivity shown by the Kremlin in the face of the recent U.S. military operation in Venezuela and the subsequent plundering of its hydrocarbons would suggest a possible revival of this ‘exchange’ suggested by Moscow in 2019 and rejected at the time by Trump.” (5)
Both in 2019 and in January 2026, Trump rejected the Russian proposals and “suggestions.” But now the situation is very different: on the one hand, Putin is likely to be much more pressing, as the Ukrainian strikes are dealing a severe blow to the Russian economy, are making the war felt for the first time by the populations of major Russian cities, are destabilizing the government, and are making the war increasingly unpopular. On the other hand, Trump is desperately searching—and failing to find—a way out of the Iranian quagmire; his brutal and vulgar authoritarianism no longer fascinates and is becoming less and less frightening; his popularity is in free fall; and the results of the midterm elections are shaping up to be catastrophic.
So, practically everything seems to point toward a give-and-take deal between these two cronies, who, incidentally, have a long history of making cynical and immoral tactical choices that serve exclusively their own personal interests. But beware: even if such a “deal” comes to fruition, its implementation will be more than problematic. We can be certain that, despite its exhaustion after more than four years of a horrific and ferocious war, the Ukrainian people—who have already suffered and bled so much—will do everything in their power to render it ineffective…
Notes
1. See Adam Novak’s excellent article The political economy of Ukraine’s war and the politics of a coming bad peace: https://
2. Bloodier than Stalingrad: Number of casualties in Russia’s war on Ukraine reaches million: https://edition.cnn.
3. La Russie enrôle des Yéménites, Syriens, Égyptiens, Irakiens pour combattre en Ukraine:
https://www.radiofrance.fr/
4. Putin offers to stop sharing intel with Iran if US cuts off Ukraine: https://www.politico.
5.Trump in Greenland: Old-fashioned Colonialism and Acceleration of the Climate Catastrophe!: https://
