Kim Barker

Like, it's not going to happen.

People are not going to accept that.

But also, at the same time, there was a lot of pressure coming from America, like, make this deal, sign this deal, accept this peace.

And like, let's move on.

And you have this sense that maybe this peace plan was coming out.

Maybe it was being pushed because Zelensky looked so weak that he had no choice but to accept it.

But that is not what happened.

Instead, it was the opposite.

Zelensky came out and he's returning to his early wartime president sort of disposition where he's doing these videos and he's very serious and he's telling the country that he can face a very difficult election or a loss of dignity or a risk of losing a key partner.

They have a choice right now.

It's one of the toughest choices they've had.

Are we going to sacrifice our dignity, or are we going to be willing to lose this key partner, that partner being the United States?

And instead of being in the very weak position that Zelensky had been in just a day before, even hours before, you have Zelensky as defiant leader and the country rallying around what he is saying, which is we're not going to simply give in.

But it still has left Zelensky in a really hard position because he's facing dealing with this peace plan, dealing with America, whose support he would like to keep, and dealing with the Trump administration and wanting to look like they're playing ball, like they're trying to negotiate in good faith to get a deal to end this war, which is what the Trump administration really, really wants.

But he's got to somehow do that without sacrificing everything.

And that is why Zelensky finds himself between a rock and a hard place.

I've been talking to Ukrainians about this remarkable about-face that the American government has had on its position on Ukraine. And what I'm hearing is shock, anger, outrage.

I've been talking to Ukrainians about this remarkable about-face that the American government has had on its position on Ukraine. And what I'm hearing is shock, anger, outrage.

I've been talking to Ukrainians about this remarkable about-face that the American government has had on its position on Ukraine. And what I'm hearing is shock, anger, outrage.

Bucha was the site of one of the most shocking massacres by Russian troops in the early days of the war. They seemed to use Ukrainians walking by almost for target practice, and then they just left the bodies on the streets.