U.S. and Germany May Be in Secret Talks to Force Ukraine to Negotiate

Wes O'Donnell
5 min readNov 25, 2023

If true, it is a betrayal of America’s fundamental struggle against authoritarians and a grave disservice to the Ukrainians who have lost their lives to this conflict.

Photo by Yurii Khomitskyi on Unsplash

Occasionally, I’ll get wind of a development in the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War that gets me all hot and bothered — and not in the romance novel way — more of the “why in the hell would they do that?” way…

On November 24, the sensationalist, gossip-filled German newspaper BILD reported that Chancellor Scholz and President Biden are making plans to slow weapons shipments to Ukraine with the intent of forcing Ukraine’s President Zelensky to the negotiating table.

Most days, I don’t get my news from tabloids, nor do I give their reporting much credibility.

The issue here is that this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. I’ve also heard this from people I trust in the U.S. intelligence community.

That worries me. Here’s why:

Winter is upon us. Ukraine’s limited success in its counteroffensive has changed the calculus in Washington — and Berlin. That much is true.

But notice what Western governments are not saying about Ukraine: Many do not say that Ukraine needs an unambiguous victory. The majority do not say that…

--

--

Wes O'Donnell

US Army & US Air Force Veteran | Global Security Writer | Intel Forecaster | Law Student | TEDx Speaker | Pro Democracy | Pro Human | Hates Authoritarians