The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | February 26th, 2024: Peace Prospects For Ukraine & Sweden Wins Over Hungary On NATO

Episode Date: February 26, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     Ukrainian officials signaled Sunday that Kyiv is open to a possible future peace summit with Russia to end the brutal war, however, serious doubts remain that such a summit is remotely possible. Hungary ended years of uncertainty regarding Sweden’s NATO membership bid on Monday, finally voting to approve their ascension into the alliance. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.     Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's get briefed. First, Ukrainian officials signaled Sunday that Kiv is open to a possible future peace summit with Russia to end the war now in its third year. However, serious doubts remain that such a summit is even remotely possible. Also, an update on NATO's expansion as Hungary, the final holdout, clears the way for SWATES. Sweden to join the military alliance. But first, our afternoon spotlight. As the brutal war in Ukraine enters its third year, a senior official in Kiev has signaled that a peace deal with Russia could be possible down the line.

Ander Jermak, the chief of staff to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, said Sunday that Ukraine and its foreign allies are mulling the idea of engaging Russia at a future peace summit, though in a way that would not allow the Putin-Rurban. regime to dictate the terms, according to a report by Reuters. Yermak discussed a somewhat ambitious idea, where Zelensky would outline his vision for ending the war at a peace summit that Switzerland plans to host in the coming months. Now, while Russia has called the summit, quote, pointless and said they will not attend, whatever plans are drawn up there could be pitched to Russian representatives at a second

meeting. Yermak said at a press conference in Kiev, quote, there can be a situation in which we to and invite representatives of the Russian Federation, where they will be presented with the plan in case whoever is representing the aggressor country at that time will want to genuinely end this war and return to a just peace, end quote. Despite the comments, hopes for a peace summit with Russia don't seem to be in the cards any time soon. Leaders in Kiev have long maintained that any peace agreement would require a complete withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of territory seized by Russia. Now, frankly, it's hard to imagine Russian President Vladimir Putin

agreeing to such demands, particularly at a time when he feels like he may have an edge in the war. Russia has scored recent victories in the Dynetsk region, taking the city of Avdivka. Their ground forces are upping the pressure along the front lines in hopes of retaking villages captured by Ukraine during their largely disappointing counteroffensive last summer. Officials in Ukraine said on Sunday, that their intelligence indicates that Russia is also planning a new offensive to begin as early as May. Yeah, you can see why people might be pessimistic about the concept of a peace summit. Simply put, Putin has made it clear that he has no plans to stop his war against Ukraine. Zelensky himself appeared to pour cold water on the idea of peace talks as well on Sunday,

despite the comments from his chief of staff. Asked about the prospects at a press conference, Zelensky said, quote, can you speak with a deaf person? Can you speak with a person who kills his opponents? End quote. Which brings to mind Winston Churchill's admonition to his World War II cabinet about Hitler when he said you cannot negotiate with a tiger when your head is in its mouth. Zolensky also added during the press conference, quote, we will offer a platform where Putin will be able to concede that he lost this war and that it was a big mistake, end quote. Yeah, well, that'll work. So that appears to be a non-starter, unless somehow you imagine Putin appearing on the world stage to admit

that he made an error in judgment, hey, sorry about that, and conceding defeat. Complicating any prospective peace talks would be the difficult question of NATO membership for Ukraine, something that Putin opposes in the strongest possible terms. At a gathering of world leaders in Kiev this weekend to mark the second anniversary of the war, NATO chief Yenstoltenberg promised, quote, Ukraine will join NATO. not a question of if, but of when. Over the weekend, Zelensky also reiterated his plea to the U.S. to approve fresh aid for Ukraine, saying the future of the war may hinge on the continued financial and military support of America and European allies. And by the use of the word may, what Zelensky means is will. As we've covered extensively on the PDB, a roughly $60 billion

aid package for Ukraine currently remains stuck in a Congress deadlocked over the U.S. border crisis. Zelensky said, quote, whether Ukraine loses, whether we will struggle a lot, and whether there will be a lot of victims depends on you, on our partners, on the Western world, end quote. All right, coming up after the break, after years of opposition, Hungary voted Monday to clear the way for Sweden to join the NATO military alliance. I'll be right back. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points.

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Hungary ended the uncertainty regarding Sweden's NATO membership bid on Monday, finally voting to approve their membership in the alliance. Monday's vote followed a meeting on Friday between Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christi, and his counterpart in Hungary, Victor Orban. They tentatively agreed to shelve their differences and signed a new military agreement, which included Sweden selling four new Gripon planes to add to Hungary's fleet, according to a Guardian report. Now, the Gripon, manufactured by Saab, is a multi-role single-engine fighter aircraft. The vote was the third taken by Hungary's Parliament on the issue of Sweden's membership to NATO and came after the leader of the ruling

parliamentary group made the surprising move last week to schedule a vote on the issue as they reopened Monday from their winter break. Asked about his change of heart on Sweden after nearly two years of dragging his feet, Orban said, quote, being members of NATO means that we are prepared to die for each other. It is based on mutual respect, taking that process at an appropriate pace has been wise, end quote. Hungary was the last of the 31 members of the alliance to approve Sweden's membership bid. Sweden and Finland ditched their decades-long position of neutrality and applied to join NATO in May of 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While Finland was formally accepted into NATO in April of 2023, Sweden faced significant opposition from both Turkey and Hungary. As we

previously covered on the PDB, the Turkish parliament voted back in January to approve Sweden's bid to join NATO, leaving Hungary as the last holdout. Swaying Hungary's Orban marked a major achievement for Christerson's coalition government in Sweden, which has been working to get Hungary on side since taking power in 2022. Christerson said, quote, we respect each other's differences and sometimes reach good compromises. Now we are also entering into joint NATO cooperation with precisely the attitude of being prepared to fight for each other in a dangerous time, end quote. With Hungary's endorsement, Sweden is now poised to become.

the 32nd member of the NATO alliance. And somewhere, probably sitting in a darkened underground lair, quietly stroking a hairless cat, Vladimir Putin sits brooding and cursing NATO's growth. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday 26th February. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Tocovus is the go-to for premium handcrafted Western boots. Stop by any store location for a warm welcome, a cold drink in hand,

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