Even though the Oct. 23 letter sent by progressive Democrats to President Biden calling for peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine was almost immediately retracted (‘we really didn’t mean it’), the remote possibility that some Democrats were daring to break ranks got an immediate unified chorus-line response from the White House, the National Security Council, and other Members of Congress.
At the Oct. 24 White House briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre intoned that “this is a decision that President Zelensky is going to have to make when it comes to any type of conversation with Russia, any type of negotiation. …We will continue to support them as long as– as long as it takes…nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
National Security Council communications director John Kirby stated with great sincerity that he greatly appreciated the “very thoughtful concerns” expressed in the letter, but the rule is “we’re not going to have conversations with the Russian leadership without the Ukrainians being represented. Mr. Zelensky gets to determine—because it’s his country—what success looks like and when to negotiate.”
