According to him, the approach of the US President Trump administration is that it puts pressure on Ukraine, and not on the Russians.
“It is very harmful when either the President of the United States or [его спецпредставитель] Steve Witkoff or someone else says, “We're 95% done, except for the most important part.” I don't think it helps,” Hodges said.
He indicated that the Kremlin has no interest in negotiating a peaceful outcome that does not involve Ukraine actually agreeing to all of their demands. However, it is up to the Ukrainians themselves to decide whether to agree to Moscow’s conditions or not, Hodges added.
“I am not now in a trench near Pokrovsk or in an apartment under Shahed attacks, so only Ukrainians can decide this. But your president, the leadership of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, every Ukrainian with whom I communicate answers: “No, don’t even think about it,” the general emphasized.
At the same time, he noted that the issue of territories, in particular Donbass, can be resolved. In his opinion, Russia could recognize it as the sovereign territory of Ukraine.
Trump, according to the retired general, lives in his own fictional reality, tied to the desired business agreements between Americans and Russians.
“It seems to me that there are already agreements, and these documents will be made public after, in their opinion, there will be some kind of deal this summer. That is why the president [Трамп] pressure to have everything ready by June 2026 in order to file huge business deals on July 4th, in time for Independence Day,” Hodges suggested.
Context
On February 7, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that The United States has proposed that Russia and Ukraine end the war by early summer. Therefore, according to him, we should expect pressure from the Americans regarding such temporary boundaries.
The head of the Ukrainian state also indicated that intelligence showed him the so-called Dmitriev package, how economic cooperation between America and Russia for $12 trillion, which the Russian Federation presented to the United States. Zelensky pointed out that there are different signals in the media and not only that this package may also contain issues related to Ukraine, including its security and sovereignty.
The Economist reported on February 17 that before Trump’s meeting with the illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August 2025, a memo was prepared for the Russian Security Council on how to sell the US President the “best possible deal” that included easing Russian sanctions and investing in Russia.
