At the end of the week, Trump is scheduled to try another round of negotiations with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. So far, neither side has been particularly good at finding an end to this problem. The last time Zelensky and Trump were together, it provided a volcanic eruption between the President, Vice President, and Zelensky in the Oval Office. Hopefully, we get a better result this time - but to do that, everyone needs to acknowledge reality.

Ahead of this meeting, Zelensky has already rejected territorial secessions to Russia. Zelensky made this statement because Trump had suggested a territory swap was inevitable as part of a "betterment of both" countries. He also tried outflanking Trump, "Zelensky also urged Ukraine's allies to take "clear steps" towards achieving a sustainable peace, during a call with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer."

This in turn triggered a European response, "French President Emmanuel Macron, following phone calls with Zelensky, Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said "the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukrainians" and that Europe also had to be involved in the negotiations."

David French summed up the position of New York Times liberals by asserting, "We are not sovereign over Ukraine. Its fate is not Donald Trump's to negotiate. It is up to a free people whether they want to continue to resist a murderous invasion. And Ukraine continues to stand."

These emotional screeches from the Europeans and pundits like the French are meaningless. Reaching a negotiated settlement on the Ukraine war has implicitly acknowledged land swaps since the moment Russia walked into the country. We're already well past the invasions into Crimea in 2014 and the eastern front now in Ukraine.

Ukraine has not defeated Russia. And the West has not ever held the position of defeating Russia in this war. At no point during the Biden Administration was the goal to stand with free people and resist Russia. The stance of the Biden administration was to use Ukraine as a meat grinder to burn out and weaken the Russian military.

That's why the United States waltzed by multiple opportunities to exit the war when Ukraine did have the upper hand. Ukraine had a few successful counteroffensives and pushed Russia back on several occasions. But it has never been able to evict the Russians, and counteroffensives have nearly wrecked the country due to failure.

It's been clear for years that the only possible ending for the Ukraine war was through a negotiated settlement. Zelensky has done a good job in leading the charge in keeping his country together. But it's not in his interest to be a meat grinder.

Nor is it in the United States' interests to continue sending arms into a conflict with no end. We have other conflicts that need our attention, and Ukraine is not something we need to stay involved with forever. We helped prevent a Russian takeover of Ukraine, but we are not destined to overthrow Russia in this war.

Ukraine is not sovereign and cannot decide to keep us tied up forever. If we pulled out, they'd collapse. This war is not a moral crusade; it's a matter of raw military power. If the United States wanted Ukraine to win, Biden would have allowed broader weapons and strikes into Russia. They forbade those actions to prevent escalation and keep Russia engaged.

And Europe's cries for a continuing stand are hilarious. None of the European powers has a functioning military or the capacity to resist Russia's failed military. Europeans demand that the United States continue to fund and arm Ukraine. They want our security while they live their socialist domestic policies.

Trump has managed to shatter those delusions of idiocy. The European continent is 50 years behind reality. The Ukraine war hasn't managed to shake common sense into their skull, and Trump is right to hound them on these and other points. Europe is a useless ally—at least the Ukrainians fight. Europe, except for Poland, has chosen irrelevance.

That brings us to these negotiations. Trump has Russia in a perilous spot. With the price of oil struggling and Iran collapsing, the Russian economy is in a bind. Putin built a war economy, but can't keep this going forever, either. He needs an out because Russia is either on the verge of or in the middle of a recession.

Keeping Putin over these economic hardships will enable a better deal, at least in theory. Otherwise, he can keep the continent on edge and continue burning through American military resources. The Ukraine war has been a proxy war between the United States and Russia, which is why it is incumbent upon us to end it.

Europe doesn't get a say because it's done nothing. Ukraine can be at the table. But Ukraine won't be the one calling the final shots. This was always going to end with either Ukraine in defeat or the United States brokering a peace because we had direct power in play. Those are the only options.

Hopefully, Trump can drive a deal home. But the American pundits and Europeans need to wake up and face reality. We were always going to come to this point. The only question is what a final deal looks like, and whether Zelensky saves his country by accepting a deal.