The President's Daily Brief
December 20th, 2024: Putin Talks Deal With Trump To End Ukraine War & China Under Scrutiny Over Mystery Drone Phenomena
Fri, 20 Dec 2024
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: We'll begin with an update on the war in Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin claims he is ready to strike a compromise with Donald Trump to end the conflict. Later in the show, Israel is setting their sights on Iran’s last remaining proxy group of note in the Middle East, warning Yemen’s Houthi rebels that the long arm of Israel will soon come for them. Plus, military bases near Chinese-owned farmland have been caught up in the mystery drone phenomena haunting U.S. skies, leading some to believe that the activity is related to espionage efforts by China’s CCP. In our 'Back of the Brief' segment, officials in Kyiv say they have disrupted a massive Russian spy ring operating within Ukraine that sought to collect sensitive intelligence related to F-16 fighter jets donated by Kyiv’s Western allies. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Patriot Gold: Call 1-888-870-5457 for a free investor guide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What recent developments have occurred in the Ukraine war?
We'll start the show with an update on the war in Ukraine, as Russian President Putin claims he's ready to strike a compromise with Donald Trump to end the conflict. Later in the show, Israel is setting their sights on Iran's last remaining proxy group of note in the Middle East, warning Yemen's Houthi rebels that the long arm of Israeli justice will soon come for them.
Plus, military bases near Chinese-owned farmland have been caught up in the mystery drone phenomena haunting U.S. skies, leading some to believe that the activity is related to espionage efforts by the Chinese Communist Party.
And in today's back of the brief, officials in Kyiv say they've disrupted a massive Russian spy ring operating within Ukraine that sought to collect sensitive intelligence related to F-16 fighter jets donated by Kyiv's Western allies. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin just gave a marathon end of year press briefing in Moscow where he claimed he's ready to strike a bargain to end his nearly three year old war on Ukraine. During the four and a half hour long question and answer session. Can you imagine if you were in the press and you had to sit through that?
Anyway, during that four and a half hour long question and answer session on Thursday, which was of course carefully choreographed by the Kremlin, Putin said his forces are winning the war, but would gladly participate in possible peace talks with U.S. President-elect Trump once he returns to office in order to find a compromise with Ukraine.
He also claimed that Russia had no preconditions to start talks with Ukrainian authorities, and that's according to a report from Reuters. But, as always with Putin, well, there's a significant catch. The dictator said Russia has been ready to negotiate for some time and placed the blame on leaders in Kyiv for resisting efforts to start a discussion.
He also said that while he's willing to negotiate with anyone, including Ukrainian President Zelensky, the Kremlin would only accept a deal that is approved by the Ukrainian parliament, which he called Ukraine's only legitimate authority.
Putin said Zelensky, whose term technically expired in the spring of this year, would need to stand for re-election for Moscow to consider him a legitimate signatory to any future agreement. Oh, because, of course, nobody loves protocol and pomp and circumstance and sticking to the rules like Putin does.
As a reminder, Ukrainian elections were scrapped due to the war, and Zelensky has been leading under an extended period of martial law. Now, furthermore, despite his declaration that Russia has no conditions for starting negotiations, Putin later said that any diplomatic discussions should be based on the failed Istanbul talks from 2022. So, I guess Putin does have conditions.
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Chapter 2: What did Putin say about negotiations with Trump?
For some background, the Istanbul negotiations occurred shortly after Moscow's full-scale invasion. The draft treaty allowed Ukraine to pursue EU membership but prohibited it from joining NATO.
The treaty also imposed stringent conditions, forbidding Ukraine from hosting foreign weapons, requiring reductions in its military forces, and demanding Kyiv officially cede Crimea and parts of the Donbass region to Russia. Kyiv rejected these terms, of course, as unacceptable and akin to a capitulation, leading to the collapse of the talks.
Putin also poured cold water on the possibility of a more limited ceasefire, saying any deal between Russia and Ukraine must be longstanding. Putin's aversion to a more limited truce could throw a wrench into the plans of President-elect Trump, who has regularly claimed that he can bring a swift end to the conflict once he returns to office.
One plan that Trump has reportedly floated to European leaders would involve a ceasefire and the deployment of a European-led peacekeeping coalition of ground troops in Ukraine, though it sounds like that will be a non-starter with Putin.
While there are apparently multiple plans being floated by Trump's advisors at this time, he has proposed ceding large parts of Ukraine's eastern territories to Russia, areas that Moscow's forces currently occupy, as well as blocking Ukraine from joining the NATO alliance. Zelensky, for his part, has shown an openness to aspects of Trump's proposals.
On Thursday, Zelensky said he had discussed the idea of a peacekeeping force with European leaders as a potential path forward. He also recently said he'd be willing to consider temporarily ceding Russian-occupied territories to Moscow, but only if Ukraine is offered NATO membership.
Once Ukraine is under the NATO umbrella, Zelensky has advocated using diplomatic means to restore their lost territory. But Putin has regularly stated his intent to keep the roughly 18% of Ukrainian territory that his military has seized.
And during his press conference on Thursday, he said Russia's bloody but sustained gains on the front lines in eastern Ukraine have put Moscow in a strong negotiating position. Putin clearly thinks he's winning the war despite heavy losses, leaving many to question whether his claim to interest in a peace deal is genuine.
In a rare admission, however, Putin did acknowledge that his military made missteps in the early days of the war and that they should have been better prepared prior to invading in February 2022. Or how about this? They could have just chosen not to invade at all. Asked if he would do anything different, Putin said he regretted not sending troops into Ukraine sooner. Oh. All right.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Israel's actions against the Houthis?
In a statement, Ukraine's prosecutor's office revealed that a member of the network also deceived three Ukrainian soldiers into sharing sensitive details by pretending to work for domestic intelligence. Operating across five regions, the spy ring allegedly leveraged frontline Ukrainian contacts to pinpoint key military targets.
The spy ring's primary focus, according to the SBU, was identifying airfields housing F-16 jets, locations of air defense systems, and facilities manufacturing electronic warfare technology. As we reported on the PDB, Ukraine began receiving F-16s this summer after extensive negotiations with Western allies.
Now, despite being decades old, the jets were heralded as a potential game changer for Kyiv, enhancing its ability to intercept Russian drone and missile attacks. These capabilities make the aircraft not only a strategic military tool, but also a symbolic target for Moscow.
Business Insider reports that it remains uncertain how much actionable intelligence the spy network managed to deliver before its dismantlement. According to Radio Free Europe, the alleged ringleader was detained and prominent members of the spy ring faced charges of state treason and unauthorized disclosure of military information.
Convictions could result in sentences ranging from eight years to life imprisonment alongside the confiscation of property. Additional arrests are expected as the investigation deepens.
The dismantling of the spy ring marks a significant victory for Ukraine's counterintelligence efforts, but the broader challenge, of course, of neutralizing Russian espionage operations, well, that looms large as the conflict nears the three-year mark. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Friday, 20 December.
If you have any questions for me, or if you'd like to make a comment, well, please do. Just reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. It's very simple. To listen to the show ad-free, well, that's also simple. Become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com.
And if it's Friday, and I have it on good authority that it is, well, that means that the PDB production team is busy putting together a brand new episode for this weekend of our PDB Situation Report. As always, great guests, solid insight, news you can use. Tune in. You can find that, of course, on the first TV every Friday evening. New episodes launch at 10 p.m.
And our YouTube channel, that's a juggernaut, at President's Daily Brief. and of course, all podcast platforms. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.
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