There’s more to it than that - what he is offering in exchange for him stepping down will guarantee that Russia will stop fucking them. Acceptance into NATO would have stopped Russian aggression from the start. He’s been asking for it almost from the beginning for exactly this reason. I don’t believe it will happen, so I don’t believe he will be stepping down. My opinion is that it’s one of that the statement was meant more defiantly and deliberately: I will step down if and when I can be assured of future peace for my country.
this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2025
86 points (97.8% liked)
politics
20394 readers
3118 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
IIRC he didn't even really wanna be President. So this is prolly a win/win for him in a lot of ways if him just stepping down is able to get Ukraine into NATO.
No way they're gonna give up half the mineral rights in Ukraine. It just plain won't happen.
It's only a win/win if he believes his country will be in good hands because unlike Trump he actually gives a shit about his country
I mean yeah, I agree with that.
Just give up the mineral rights to all minerals in the Donbas. Tell Trump: "You get as many minerals as your weapons help retake. If Russia is ceded the entirety of the Donbas, you get nothing."
Not something I'm a fan of for multiple reasons.
One is that Zelinsky is making the same mistake that Trump routinely makes: Making concessions before even sitting at the negotiating table, eliminating your own leverage. Why should Russia offer any concessions to secure his resignation when he's already said he's willing to resign? No reason for them to give him anything if he's willing to concede that for free.
The second is simple. Zelinsky blinked. Never mind giving an inch and Trump taking a yard -- once you give so much as a micrometer to Trump, he believes the rest of the entire light-year is his by birthright and will never let it go. He will portray this in the media as Zelinsky conceding that he is an "illegitimate dictator" and will use this as support for the US supporting Russia's demands for his removal.
Zelinsky is also saying he may be forced to give up half the mineral rights in his country. Again, making this statement public is a huge win for both Trump and Russia as it essentially takes another point of negotiation off the table, while also validating Trump's belief that Ukraine is barely even a third wheel in their own peace talks. Those mineral rights and Zelinksy stepping down could have extracted enormous concessions that could have included Ukraine getting their land back, joining NATO, creating a NATO-managed DMZ, or any number of other things. But instead, Ukraine giving up half its minerals and Zelinsky stepping down are now simply a given and where negotiations are going to start, not where they're going to end.
And look, I fully admit that in the end, Ukraine may not have much of a choice here. I'm not saying I like the idea, but at a geopolitical level, Trump is right in saying that Ukraine really does have little to say about its own future. With Trump in office, Ukraine really does have little to no real negotiating power here, and Zelinksy may simply be acknowledging the reality of the situation and taking the least bad option. But if Zelinsky wants any shot at even having a seat at the table, he needs to at least keep up the appearance that he's intending to keep fighting. Rolling over and playing dead will only reinforce Trump's belief that Ukraine's minerals are his, Russia's statements that the war is justified to remove an 'illegitimate' leader, and both of their beliefs that Zelinksy needs to just sit at the kiddie table like a good little boy and let the adults handle things.