Ukraine can do whatever it wants, without the United States
If Zelensky won't accept the terms of a peace deal negotiated by the U.S. and Russia, then he's welcome to try to keep fighting on his own
[America] goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.
She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.
She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.
John Quincy Adams
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, says that it’s unacceptable for the United States to hold diplomatic talks with the Russian government over ending the war between Ukraine and Russia without Ukraine. From Reuters:
"Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement. And the same rule should apply to all of Europe," [Zelensky] said.
The American taxpayer has been bankrolling Ukraine’s war since the beginning, and they elected Donald Trump as President of the United States in large part to end that war. Or, at least, to end the U.S. bankrolling Ukraine in that war. Zelensky doesn’t have to accept any peace agreement between the United States and Russia, he can keep fighting, so long as the Ukrainian people allow him to do so or he (inevitably) loses the war. But neither can he demand a single cent more from the American taxpayer. And that’s exactly what he’s doing: Demanding that the United States continue to hand over money that has been taken from the American taxpayer so that he can continue to maintain his political power in Ukraine. The second the U.S. stops funding his government, the war is over and Zelensky will be out of power.
But, again, he can keep trying to fight the war without backing by the United States if he likes. Maybe he can convince European countries to rob their taxpayers to make up the difference; Prime Minster of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer says he’s willing to send British troops to Ukraine after all. Or maybe Zelensky can convince them to make a European army or a second NATO without the United States. Whatever nonsense Zelensky is able or not able to con the rest of Europe into doing, America need not have any part in it. If he’s unwilling to accept an American-led peace deal, then we wish him the best of luck in bankrolling his own war with Russia and Vladimir Putin.