Although the next proposed stage in the peace process of having Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet one on one is a risky proposition, it is necessary if the war is ever going to end, Lord Peter Mandelson, British ambassador to the United States, told Newsmax on Tuesday.
Mandelson said on "Wake Up America" that this is the first time since this war began that Putin and Zelenskyy have apparently agreed "to meet to discuss their differences and work out whether, for both of them, there is a pathway to a peace settlement."
He added that President Donald Trump pushing this as the next step illustrates that "he's clearly a politician who believes in high risk, high reward, and if this comes off, if we pull off the end to this terrible war, then much of the credit will go to President Trump."
Mandelson said a proposed Putin-Zelenskyy meeting "is risky, but it's a hurdle that we have to climb and get over if we're ever going to see an end to this" war.
Mandelson argued that the second very important development that happened yesterday during the White House meetings was "the announcement by the president that the United States would guarantee and secure any peace settlement that is made in the future to prevent any future invasion by Russia. … It would not be possible for these security guarantees to be put in place unless the United States would back them."
Mandelson made clear that this was such a vital ingredient because Ukraine has been "invaded by a colonial aggressive power, Russia. It cannot leave itself defenseless in these circumstances."
The British ambassador pointed out that "what I saw play out yesterday was a president of the United States with very strong nerves. To convene two meetings in such rapid succession — one in Alaska and then yesterday in the White House — shows that the president has an appetite for risk, which is enviable."
Mandelson added, "From both of those meetings, he could have come up away empty-handed, and lots of people would have been lining up to point the finger of blame and say he should not have tried in the first place."
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.