Michael Weiss

He appeared on state television dressed in military fatigues the other day.

Does that sound like somebody who's interested in peace?

Or does that sound like Generalissimo Putin thinks he's going to take Kiev eventually?

No, I don't think so.

I mean, all that's changed is the Russians.

Well, one thing I forgot to mention, and I'll mention it now because it's important.

One of the reasons Dmitriyev, Witkoff, Kushner and Vance thought that they could railroad the Ukrainians now is

more easily than before, is Ukraine has two crises.

One crisis is a corruption scandal that ain't going away, that involves stealing from the energy industry in Ukraine, which is especially insulting to Ukrainians, because this is a country suffering blackouts all the time, right?

We're approaching winter, it's very cold, and people are stealing from the till to keep the lights on, right?

So how treacherous can you be, right?

Yeah.

And this corruption scandal, if you read the Ukrainian press or talk to Ukrainians, involves two people.

Rustam Umerov, the former defense minister who's now like the national security advisor to Zelensky, who was in Florida with Witkow and Dmitry, I'm sorry, not Dmitry, but Witkow and Kushner, looking at this plan in its sort of primordial form and apparently offering some kind of revisions or amendments to it.

And Umerov's boss, or Krisha as the Russians would call it, Andrei Yermak,

who is Zelensky's chief of staff, a deeply, deeply controversial figure.

And Yerimak was in Geneva litigating this whole thing with Rubio and the Americans and the Europeans.

So the lead negotiator on the Ukrainian side is in hot water.

What's happening now?

Yes, and Tucker Carlson is saying, oh, the Wall Street Journal is sitting on a big, massive scoop about Yermak being corrupt.