Biden administration again rejects ceasefire between Russia, Ukraine

The Biden administration Sunday opposed a possible ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine for the second time, saying that a ceasefire would help Russia.

China President Xi Jinping is seeking to broker an armistice between the two warring countries and intends to meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to begin negotiations.

On Sunday, however, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called the notion of a ceasefire “unacceptable”.

“What we have said before, and we’ll say it again today, that if coming out of this meeting [between China and Ukraine], there’s some sort of call for a ceasefire, well, that’s just going to be unacceptable because all that’s going to do . . . is ratify Russia’s conquest to date,” Kirby said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. “All that's going to do is give Mr. Putin more time to re-fit ,retrain, re-man and try to plan for renewed offensives at a time of his choosing.”

But Kirby did not address why a ceasefire would not present the same opportunity for Ukraine, which has been armed and aided by countries around the world for a year. Ukraine’s war chest, in fact, has topped the United States’ Afghanistan war expense in proportion. The US spent an estimated $2.313 trillion over 20 years to fight the war, which averages about $115.6 billion a year.   

According to estimates from The Kiel Institute, Ukraine received at least €93.8 billion — or $100 billion — from 40 countries between January 24, 2022, and October 3, 2022. A recent €2 billion pledge from the EU and another $40 billion donation from the US brings the total to over $140 billion in less than a year. 

Kirby’s remarks Friday make the second time the Biden administration opposed a pause in fighting between Russia and Ukraine.

Last month, former Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett revealed that the United States, Germany and France scuttled what would have been a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine last year.

Bennett assumed the prime ministership in June 2021 as Russia was amassing troops on the Ukrainian border in preparation for an offensive. He would eventually come to mediate between the two East Slavic countries in an effort to protect Israeli interests.

In a five-hour interview with author and comedian Hanoch Daum, the former prime minister told of the time he visited Russian President Vladimir Putin at the latter’s invitation about two months before the war. Just prior to his visit, Bennett received a call from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asking him to set up a meeting between himself and Putin.

At the Kremlin, Bennett found Putin to be pragmatic, sharp and courteous. The Russian leader invited him to an estate in Sochi where they walked and talked along the shore. Putin invited him inside for drinks, which is when Bennett brought up Zelenskyy.

“He was the nicest man up to then, and then his gaze turned cold,” said Bennett. "’They're Nazis, they're warmongers, I won't meet him. They're pro-Nazis,’” said Putin.

Bennett recalled that Putin was hospitable and the two formed a relationship.

When the war broke out in February 2022 Israel agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine, though Bennett refused to supply the embattled country with weapons. To maintain his valuable relationship with Putin, Bennett apprised the Russian leader of all Israeli activities in Ukraine.

At one point, Bennett called Putin to notify him that Israel would be establishing a hospital in Lvov, Ukraine.

“So he said, ‘If you give me your word that it won't be a hiding place for weapons or soldiers, that it won't be used for military purposes, then no problem, just tell me where it is. I'll ensure it's not bombed.’”

The former Israeli prime minister said he also learned of the differences between the United States and Russian perceptions. The US views Putin as an imperialist and worries that if he defeats Ukraine, he may then advance on Poland and the Baltics. Putin, on the other hand, wants NATO to keep its non-expansion promise that was made after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and certainly not to welcome Ukraine into NATO.

Putin also shares a mentality with the United States, whose Monroe Doctrine claims hegemony over the Western Hemisphere and looks with hostility on foreign interference in its political affairs. Putin feels the same about Russia and sees NATO as encroaching on his “backyard,” according to Bennett.

Shortly after the war began, Bennett received a distressed call from Zelenskyy, who was hiding in a bunker for fear of being bombed by Putin. The Ukraine president asked Bennett to intervene on his behalf with Putin, who Zelenskyy believed would kill him. At a five-hour meeting with Putin, Bennett asked him: “Are you going to kill Zelenskyy?”

“I’m not going to kill Zelenskyy,” Putin promised.

Bennett said again: "I have to understand that you're giving your word that you won't kill Zelensky."

“I won’t kill Zelenskyy,” Putin repeated.

After the meeting, Bennett called Zelenskyy from his car and notified him that Putin would not kill him. Zelenskyy left the bunker and returned to his office, where he recorded a defiant video saying he is not afraid of Russia or Vladimir Putin and released it to the public.

Putin also told Bennett he would consider a ceasefire and said he would even drop his demand for the disarmament of Ukraine. For his part, Zelenskyy agreed not to join NATO.

“They both wanted a ceasefire,” said Bennett. However, territorial issues still remained, with Putin wanting to annex Ukraine’s Donbas region. But it was a starting point, and Bennett began negotiations.

Bennett updated US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz, French President Emmanuel Macron and then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who Bennett notes was particularly hawkish in pushing for war.

“Anything I did was coordinated, down to the last detail with the US, Germany and France,” shared Bennett, but added that “they nixed" the ceasefire. He did not go into detail as to how or why.

“They nixed it and I thought it was wrong,” he said, adding that “there was a good chance of reaching a ceasefire had they not scuttled it.”

Bennett says he was sure a ceasefire was the right resolution at the time but remains unsure now.

“In real time I though the right thing was a ceasefire, now I can't say."