Failed NSA Jake Sullivan Talks Trump's Ukraine Proposal, Predictably Gets It Wrong

Jake Sullivan was the National Security Advisor to President Biden and deputy chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the negotiation of the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. While Her Imperial Majesty Hillary I once reportedly joked about Sullivan being a "future president," that seems quite a reach.

On Sunday, Sullivan spoke to The Hill and criticized a cease-fire proposal from the Trump administration to end to Russo-Ukraine war, and as we might expect, he played a little fast and loose with the truth.

Former Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the recent meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave him the “first sliver of hope I’ve had in a while.”
“You saw that meeting between President Trump and President Zelensky, very public images, very remarkable images really. But what does that signal to you?” ABC News’s Martha Raddatz asked Sullivan on “This Week.”

Sullivan isn't wrong about that much; the photos that emerged from that sit-down in the historic environs of the Vatican are ones that will be in history books, especially if some kind of deal can be made to end the fighting.

A powerful photo of Zelensky and Trump meeting at the Vatican. pic.twitter.com/UYSG7HoU2K
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 26, 2025

But then, Sullivan wanders off.

“Well, it gives me the first sliver of hope I’ve had in a while because what I’ve seen to date is President Trump giving Vladimir Putin U.S. recognition of Crimea, which Russia illegally occupied and annexed,” Sullivan responded.
“Even China hasn’t recognized Crimea as part of Russia, and President Trump is telling the Russians he will do that. He’s given Putin a promise that Ukraine will not be part of NATO, and he’s given Putin a promise that he can keep all the territory that he has illegally invaded and seized,” he added.

The President himself, speaking Monday in New Jersey, mentioned only Crimea.

President Donald Trump urged Russia on Sunday to stop its attacks in Ukraine and suggested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was ready to give up Crimea as the price of a peace deal with Russia.
Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, Trump said he was disappointed that Russia has continued to attack Ukraine, and said his one-on-one meeting with Zelenskiy at the Vatican on Saturday had gone well.

Sullivan isn't wrong about Crimea; this doesn't appear to be on the table any longer. But any cease-fire proposal is just that, a proposal, and while President Trump's meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Vatican had both sides sounding optimistic, there won't be any deal unless Russia and Ukraine are talking to each other.

NatSec Advisor Waltz Signals Things Are Moving in the Right Direction on Deals With Russia, Ukraine

What Sullivan doesn't mention is that this entire mess started when his former boss, Joe Biden, was in the White House, and the perceived (and real) weakness of that administration may well have prompted the old KGB apparatchik Vladimir Putin to take action in the first place.

The cease-fire proposal Sullivan mentions also pre-dates the Vatican discussion. President Trump also sounded a hopeful tone following that meeting:

On Zelenskiy, Trump said on Sunday: "I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture, and I think he wants to make a deal."

I'll stand by what I've been saying: At this point, the best Ukraine can hope for is a return to the status quo ante from 2022. Russia cedes any Ukrainian territory it holds and retains Crimea. Mind you, that's probably the best Ukraine can hope for.

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