How The U.S. Can Win Three Big Foreign Policy Victories With Ukraine, Iran, And Venezuela

The Trump administration is once again actively pursuing peace talks to end the bloody Russian-Ukraine war, now in its fifth year.

But no real success is likely until certain inconvenient truths are faced up to and firmly dealt with.

Putin still thinks he can win control of Ukraine, despite the murderous failure of a summer offensive to seize control of the critical Donbas region.

He's convinced that the combination of sending into battle several hundred thousand more troops and obliterating Ukraine's energy and electricity facilities for the coming winter by air attacks will create the conditions for his triumph.

Ukraine is very vulnerable to current Russian air attacks, but there are two immediate measures that would shatter his plans.

One would be allowing Ukraine to use the Starlink system for targeting drones into Russia itself.

Currently, Kyiv can use Starlink for targets in Russian-occupied Ukraine, and has done so with deadly effect.

The accuracy of being able to precisely hit key targets in Russia itself would be devastating for the Kremlin's war effort.

But so far, the US hasn't given permission to Elon Musk to allow Kyiv to expand the use of Starlink.

The other move Washington should take is announcing that it will quickly provide Ukraine 50 or more F-16 fighters to help counter Russian air offensives.

Ukraine is supposed to have 79 such aircraft, but is desperately making do with 39.

Supplying more F-16s wouldn't be difficult for the United States.

We have over 800 in inventory.

The likelihood of such initiatives is small because the Trump team thinks these would scuttle its current diplomatic effort.

It might, short term, but unless we disabuse Putin of his conviction that he can win, he won't agree to anything that gets in the way of his ultimate goal of conquest.