WASHINGTON, October 21. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump appears to be seriously considering efforts to normalize economic and trade relations with Russia even before the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, David Pyne, a former US Army combat arms and headquarters staff officer, told TASS, commenting on developments surrounding Ukraine and Trump’s public criticism of Vladimir Zelensky.
"More importantly, Trump seems very focused on starting the process of normalizing economic and trade relations with Russia before the war ends <…>," said the expert, who runs The Real War blog on Substack. In Pyne’s view, Trump is trying to persuade Moscow to agree to a US-proposed ceasefire in the Ukrainian conflict covering energy infrastructure and maritime transport, partly intended "to ensure that Russian tankers can reach the US and other nations unmolested to help reduce fuel prices," which have risen significantly due to the war with Iran.
The American analyst believes there are clear grounds to say that the peace process on Ukraine is gaining momentum. "While peace efforts are indeed gaining momentum, it remains a difficult path as long as Zelensky remains in power and continues to block a negotiated settlement," Pyne said. He served as a defense and foreign policy adviser to prominent US entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy when he ran for US president in 2024.
In the retired officer’s view, "the best path would be if the US and Russia were to sign a separate peace agreement to pull the US out of the war forcing Zelensky to sign on to the existing Trump-Russia peace framework agreement which has reportedly been negotiated between Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and the Kremlin. I do not believe Zelensky can continue fighting if Trump were to suspend arms shipments, intelligence sharing and Starlink access to Ukraine. That has always been the quickest path to peace other than conducting a Maidan-style coup against Zelensky of course," Pyne emphasized.
"Trump is already calling for Zelensky’s ouster again as he did back in February/March 2025 when he sent [US] administration officials to Ukraine to interview potential candidates to replace him and suspended all US offensive intelligence sharing and arms shipments to Ukraine for one week," the analyst added.