(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds - AFP / Getty Images; Toby Melville - WPA / Getty Images)
Key Takeaways
Trump said Ukraine may need to accept Russia’s territorial gains to end the war.
Zelensky rejected any proposal involving territorial concessions.
Trump argued the war never would’ve happened under his presidency.
Trump essentially said the quiet geopolitical math out loud: Ukraine is outmanned, outgunned, and running out of time. The world acts shocked, but anyone following this conflict knows Russia seized massive swaths of eastern territory long before Trump returned to office. Zelensky refuses any compromise because, morally, no leader wants to surrender land—but morality doesn’t change military reality.
Trump’s critics pretend acknowledging the obvious equals “siding with Russia,” ignoring that this entire catastrophe was green-lit by the Biden-Obama era: Crimea under Obama, invasion under Biden, and billions of dollars poured into a war Washington elites never had a strategy to end.
Trump has one goal—stop the bloodshed and prevent Europe from collapsing further. Zelensky has another—fight to the last inch no matter how many Ukrainians die.
One of these approaches sounds like reality, the other sounds like wishful propaganda wrapped in moral outrage.
From Western Journal:
With Russia’s war against Ukaine approaching its fourth year, President Donald Trump had some harsh words Monday for Ukraine’s defiant president.
Painful as it might be, ending the war will likely mean accepting that the Russian military won’t be dislodged from the territorial gains it’s made in eastern Ukraine, Trump said in an interview.
It’s a proposition that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the same day.
In his interview with the Beltway news outlet Politico, Trump pointed out that Russia’s military had seized huge swaths of its neighbor’s land, with a military vastly superior in size.
“I give Ukraine a lot of … a lot of … I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the, you know, bravery and for the fighting and all of that,” he said.
“But you know, at some point, size will win, generally. And this is a massive size, uh … you … when you take a look at the numbers, I mean, the numbers are just crazy.”
Trump: “[Zelensky’s] gonna have to get on the ball and start accepting things. You know, when you’re losing…”
Q: “Do you think Ukraine has lost this war?”
Trump: “They’ve lost territory long before I got here…They lost a whole strip of sea front, big sea front.” pic.twitter.com/LQu9SaRNkb
— Republicans for Ukraine (@GOP4Ukraine) December 9, 2025
Trump has presented a peace plan to try to end the worst fighting in Europe since World War II. It was well-received by Russia, but Ukraine and its supporters argued it was giving too much away.
When his Politico interviewer asked if Trump had a deadline for Zelenskyy to accept his proposals, Trump was both cagey and blunt at the same time.
While dodging a definite answer, he indicated Zelenskyy was on the clock — tacitly cranking up pressure on a leader he’s sparred with more openly in the past.
“Well, he’s gonna have to get on the ball and start, uh, accepting things,” Trump said. “You know, when you’re losing, ’cause he’s losing …”
Zelenkyy, however, appears to have all but closed the door on any territorial concessions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited London, calling for unity between Europe, Ukraine and the US in negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine https://t.co/KiiYROPFYl pic.twitter.com/6ffm1xVOPI
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2025
Speaking with reporters Monday after meeting in London with leaders from Britain, France, and Germany, according to The Washington Post, Zelenskyy said he was in no position to surrender his country’s land.
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