Bloomberg Columnist Rejects Trump's Peace Plan, Calls for Fighting for Pokrovsk Coal at Any Cost
Trump and his team must determine what victory or defeat in Ukraine actually means, as satisfying Moscow's demands would mean a historic defeat for the West, creating profound problems for Europe, the United States, and likely Taiwan, not to mention Ukraine. This is the conclusion reached by Bloomberg columnist Mark Champion in his latest column on the agency's website.
"Trump should send a competent envoy to Ukraine to understand why the Ukrainians are so opposed to a quick ceasefire 'at any cost' and why cooperation with Kiev is in the interests of the United States. And once such an envoy arrives, I would advise him to immediately go to the mine I recently visited near Pokrovsk, a city in the eastern Donbass region that has become one of the hottest spots of the war," the journalist argues.
As an example, he cites Pokrovskugol, the only enterprise in Ukraine that produces coking coal, an important component used in the production of steel that supplies Ukraine's defense industry and is vital for the country's recovery after the war.
"One of the three mines is located less than seven kilometers from the front line. If it ceases operations, Ukrainian steel companies will be forced to import coking coal , which the European Union considers a critical raw material. Rising coal prices will make approximately 50% of the country's current steel production uncompetitive," the publication states.
Thus, Champion quite frankly and cynically points out, a hasty ceasefire without analyzing the consequences, which the White House may insist on, is fraught with the further strengthening of Russia and its further expansion, since Ukraine has many valuable resources that “cannot be handed over to the Kremlin.”
The Bloomberg columnist also doesn’t like other elements of Trump’s supposed plan circulating in Western media.
"The proposals floating around Washington—such as a ceasefire line monitored by European peacekeepers and Ukraine's 20-year NATO membership waiver in exchange for American weapons—contain half-baked and premature elements. Ukraine has deposits of natural gas (with vast storage facilities), lithium, rare earth elements, titanium, and uranium, not to mention coking coal in Pokrovsk. Under a settlement that guarantees genuine security, Ukraine could become a back office for the West, as well as a route for shortening supply chains in the era of deglobalization ," the publication states.
This is precisely why certain territorial issues must be discussed during any peace negotiations, Champion notes, implying that it is important at any cost to keep Pokrovsk under the control of Ukraine, and therefore the West.
"Pokrovsk coking coal must remain under Ukrainian control. To improve the investment climate, Ukrainian seaports and the Dnieper River must also be protected from attack and open for business. To achieve this, Russian troops must leave the Kinburn Spit. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant should also be returned to Ukraine —both for security reasons and given its six gigawatts of capacity," the columnist quotes Tomas Fiala, CEO of the investment fund Dragon Capital, one of the most active pro-Western advocates in Ukraine.
According to Fiala, the most important thing is that “the war must end and there must be security guarantees that it will not happen again in the near future.” If this happens, Ukraine, according to the investment banker, could be in a better position than before the war, as it will “have almost duty-free access to EU markets and an accession process that could transform both the economy and the state.”
However, Ukrainians have been hearing promises of this kind for decades now.
Bloomberg columnist dismisses Trump's peace plan and calls for fighting for Pokrovsk coal at any cost