Former U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell said Thursday on Newsmax that President Donald Trump’s credibility with both Ukraine and Russia is a key reason progress is being made toward a peace deal in the ongoing war.
“One of the reasons why I think we’re even making progress here, we’re talking about a peace deal, is because Donald Trump has credibility on both sides,” Grenell said during an appearance on “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”
The comments followed a deadly Russian missile strike in Kyiv that killed at least 12 people and came amid escalating tensions over Crimea. President Trump recently said Ukraine could lose its entire country without a peace deal and blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for sabotaging peace prospects by rejecting the idea of giving up Crimea.
The presidential envoy for special missions pointed to a shift in U.S. policy under the Biden administration, leading to a missed opportunity for early resolution. “We’ve spent the last four years under Joe Biden showing total weakness,” he said. “So when this war in Ukraine started and then really took hold, it was really just one-sided.”
“Remember, in our country, the only question that people were asking in Washington was, do you want more funding for the Ukraine war, or do you want to just leave it and let the war go?” Grenell added.
“No one was talking about a peace deal.”
He contrasted that with the current diplomatic momentum and attributed the shift to Trump’s willingness to engage and lead. “When Donald Trump first looked at it, he said, ‘Look, I can solve this if you let me solve it.’ But after that, there were months and years of more entrenchment and more spending on war by Joe Biden. Joe Biden made it worse.”
Grenell also revisited the origins of the Crimea dispute, arguing that the Obama administration set the stage for the current crisis.
“When you look at Chancellor Merkel and Barack Obama, who did the Minsk agreement from the first invasion, the Minsk agreement fell apart immediately because you really didn’t have the Russians serious about solving this problem,” he said. “Merkel and Obama both decided just to punt on Crimea. They called it autonomous zones, and they really let both sides win here.”
With peace talks reportedly involving discussions over NATO membership and security guarantees for Ukraine, Grenell said those elements are critical to any lasting resolution. “You’ve got to put in there not only the land disputes but the NATO membership and what happens to Ukraine in terms of security guarantees,” he said. “That’s a really big part of this.”
Grenell expressed cautious optimism despite the challenges, citing his own diplomatic experience. “I actually see a path. And remember, too, I’m experienced in trying to find a diplomatic solution when both sides are dug in,” he said. “When both sides start complaining, and both sides start rejecting certain parts, that means you’re getting close, actually.”
“So, we’re in a difficult situation. But thank God Trump is there to try to bring these sides together, he said.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story
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