Zelenskyy Checkmates Trump as Ambush Uncovered

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1:26Ben Meiselas:regime knows exactly what's going on. President Zelensky smoked out the secret negotiations and discussions taking place between the Trump regime, Donald Trump, Steve Whitcoff, and a special envoy for Russia who's been spending time in the United States by the name of Kirill Dmitriev, who also runs Russia's Sovereign Wealth Fund. In other words, Dmitriev's got the mullah. He's got Russian money and he's having conversations with the trump regime so you likely know what that means and now donald trump is parroting the russian propaganda and putin's demands that ukraine essentially surrender and give up all of its land to putin let me just explain to you what was going down as well there was a critical meeting that took place yesterday in istanbul turkey it was supposed to be a trilateral meeting between the leader of Turkey, Erdogan, President Zelensky of Ukraine, did show up, and Whitcoff, the special envoy of the United States, who has no foreign policy experience, but he was Trump's real estate buddy, corrupt dude.

2:34Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump sent him, who's been sending him to do those trips to Russia, he was supposed to be in Istanbul. Witkoff did not show up because right before this trip to Turkey, this meeting between Erdogan, Zelensky and Witkoff was set to take place. Zelensky found out about these secret discussions and negotiations taking place between the Trump regime and the Russians, particularly with Dmitriev, and that at this meeting in Turkey, the Trump regime was going to hoist upon Ukraine a series of demands to immediately surrender basically all of the land in Ukraine that Ukraine was never going to do.

3:15Ben Meiselas:So Ukraine said, look, we have our plan for peace that we've worked up with our European friends, with France, Spain, Germany, with others in the region, Canada, Australia also, but mostly with their European allies. And so Zelensky shows up ready to present this plan. So Whitcoff is like, oh, crap, I was going to force this surrender upon you, but you're showing up with the European crew. So Whitcoff and Trump say U.S. is not showing up in Istanbul because the U.S. wanted to force the surrender based on their secret negotiations taking place with Russia in the United States with Dmitriev. And so Witkoff doesn't show.

4:01Ben Meiselas:So it ends up just being Zelensky and Erdogan. Let me go over more specifics here. But what happens yesterday as well is that we learn that Keith Kellogg, the special envoy to Ukraine, retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg, remember that guy? He's either been forced out, basically fired or told to quit, or on his own, he's resigning. At the end of this year, he's done, he's gone. And remember, he was the guy who first promised along with Trump that there would be peace in Ukraine in 24 hours. Then you'll recall in January, he was on Fox and he said, well, it may actually take months. Then he was on in January, he said 100 days.

4:48Ben Meiselas:Then in February months, then in March, he said it would take 24 hours, but we didn't say what 24 hours and maybe in the future. Then in May, he talked about the importance of imposing sanctions on Russia. In September, he said that he had told Trump that Ukraine was winning. Then we haven't heard from this guy. And now we know with all of the stuff I'm telling you that's going on, he's either quit or he's been forced to resign or pushed out of the regime. And if you've been watching the Midas Touch Network back in January, I predicted exactly that. I said, go back to the podcast I was doing then.

5:26Ben Meiselas:I said, Kellogg's a goner, just a matter of when. Maybe he doesn't know it, but I see this guy and he is done. Just go through the facts. Again, you're not really hearing this reported anywhere else. I think it's important we're very methodical and accurate on the reporting. Hat tip to the Financial Times who first broke this part of the story. So according to the Financial Times, Ukrainian officials say that there was a capitulation style plan that Witkoff and Trump worked out with Dmitriev in Putin. And this was going to be forced upon Zelensky in Istanbul. Trump's special envoy Witkoff canceled the meeting with Zelensky in Turkey after realizing that Zelensky did not want to discuss this capitulation plan.

6:15Ben Meiselas:Sources then say Zelensky arrived with his own proposal, coordinated with Europe, and insisted on talks in a broader format. Trump and Whitcoff said, we got to cancel this meeting because they wanted to force the surrender on Zelensky. And then an unnamed US official was telling the press, now we'll wait. The ball is in Zelensky's court. They say the ball is in Zelensky's court. You know what happens? What I showed you at the beginning. Boom. All of a sudden, Russia is able to send these missiles, drones, killing dozens of innocent Ukrainians. One of the questions I have is, did the United States not share certain intelligence?

7:00Ben Meiselas:They withhold certain things. We know that's a pressure technique that Donald Trump uses, allowing innocent Ukrainians to die. So I'm just throwing it out there. This unnamed U.S. official adds that Zelensky could come to Washington to discuss the new U.S. plan if he wishes. So what is this plan? The 28-point plan calls for Russia to gain full de facto control over Donbass and eastern Ukraine, which includes Balti Luhansk and Donetsk, and would be recognized by the US and other countries along with Crimea as lawfully part of the Russian Federation. A Ukrainian official claimed the plan also included limitations on the size of the armed forces of Ukraine, limitations on the arsenal of long-range weapons, limitations on security guarantees, basically telling Ukraine, your army can't grow, You can't have weapons.

7:57Ben Meiselas:You are at the whims of Russia at this point. It was a horrible, horrible deal. It was total surrender. And Zelensky said no way he was going to do it. Here's what Zelensky said about just peace for Ukraine before the meeting. But behind the scenes, Zelensky and his European allies got the intelligence that the U.S. was working with Putin and Dmitriev to try to sneak attack Zelensky and Istanbul and threaten surrender. So then Zelensky responded with, here's the European Zelensky plan. And then Whitcoff backed off. And then you have Keith Kellogg resigning or quitting. Do you see what's going on here?

8:42Ben Meiselas:Here's what Zelensky says. Play this clip. Thank you for the question. Tomorrow, I have a meeting with President Erdogan, first and foremost. We will have a detailed conversation with him about all possible ways and approaches to ensure that Ukraine is able to achieve a just and lasting peace, carefully considering every option to support a fair resolution. And I think it will be quite a substantive conversation, maybe a long one, or maybe not very long. We'll see. I have a good relationship with the President of Turkey. We will talk and we have some positions and signals from the United States.

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11:07Ben Meiselas:That's dupe.com slash Midas for 500 free dupe points today. Use your points and gift cards to make the most of your holiday shopping. Go to dupe.com slash Midas, M-E-I-D-A-S. So then we learned that Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, told associates he plans to leave the administration in January. Four sources told Reuters a departure that would mean the loss of a key advocate of Ukraine in the Trump regime. It's probably the only the only remaining person in the Trump regime that actually supports Ukraine. More on Kellogg in a second. So you recall my reporting yesterday about the importance of the meeting between Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron in France, in Paris, where there was a 10 year defense and security pact negotiated between France and Zelensky, between Macron and Zelensky.

12:04Ben Meiselas:And then separately, there was the important meeting that took place between the leaders of Spain and Zelensky. So you had that taking place. And go back to my reporting also because you have Sweden going to Canada to sell fighter jets there. And basically, no one wants to buy American military equipment because everyone realizes America is completely compromised at this point by Putin and by Russia. I want to share this with you as well. So here's the photo back on October 26, 2025, when Kirill Dmitriev arrived. He was meeting with MAGA Republican Congress members like Anna Paulina Luna, you see right there.

12:46Ben Meiselas:And he handed her a book titled Great Words of a Great Man. And it is a book involving Vladimir Putin. Here is Putin's special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, when he arrived in the U.S. in late October. And he claimed he was here to speak with MAGA Republican Congress members and the Trump regime. And now we know what they were doing. Specifically, they were plotting the Ukrainian surrender together, which Zelensky found out was happening. Here's what Kirill Dmitriev said about speaking with the Trump regime. Play this clip. I'm currently in the United States at the invitation of U.S. President. This event was planned.

13:27Ben Meiselas:And here's another clip of Dmitry of right here so you can hear him for yourself. Sadly, it is Ukraine that is undermining the necessary dialogue. And it's doing so at the request of British and European actors who want the conflict to continue. The situation in the British economy, the European economy is very unfavorable. And it's important for them to create an image of Russia as an enemy. Though we will continue our dialogue with the United States, clearly stating Russia's position, which is that Russia's national interests must be respected, that sanctions and unfriendly measures will have no impact on the Russian economy.

14:13It will only lead to growing prices at the United States gas stations because the prices are already going up.

14:25Ben Meiselas:Okay, now going back to Special Envoy Keith Kellogg, I want to share this timeline with you right now. The first clip I want to show you, let's build this timeline together, okay? This is January 12th of 2025. Kellogg says there will be peace in Ukraine in 100 days. Play this clip. What we'll do, we'll set the conditions for the president, and then he'll eventually get to a position where he'll be talking to President Putin and also Prime Minister Zelensky as well. and I think they're going to come to a solvable solution in the near term and when I say by the near term you know I would like to set a goal on a personal level professional level I would say let's set it at 100 days and move our way back and figure a way we can do this in the near term to make sure that this solution is solid it's sustainable and that this war ends to it and so that we stop the carnage I think that's gonna be very important to do it's gonna be important for our national security.

15:23It's a part of our vital national interest and it's also good for Europe as well and the globe as well as well.

15:28Ben Meiselas:The next one is February 1st. He says that it's going to happen in months. Play this clip. But you've been around the block, General. I mean, do you think this is months? What do you think this is? You know, I would like to say it's months, but it's not years. I'm talking about, you know, I'd like to think that we could have something in the short term. What I mean by the short term, I've said this before on one of your programs, on one of the Fox programs. I'd like to see it get a countdown from 100 days back and figure out where we're at, either ceasefire or permanent peace. And I think it's all in the art of the doable.

16:01But this is not going to be sort of like we saw in Afghanistan, which is four years. It's not a cottage industry. It's got to be something short term for both nations, but not only just for both nations. It's good for the United States. It's good for the world as well. If we can stop this fight, stop the killing, which has been horrific, and stop the destruction of the Ukrainian

16:18Ben Meiselas:The next clip I'm going to show you is from March. On March 7th of 2025, Kellogg says that, yes, Trump didn't mean 24 hours, that there'll be peace in 24 hours in Ukraine, but Trump just didn't say which 24 hours it was going to be. Maybe it's years from now, 24 hours, but eventually 24 hours from some period of time, there will be peace. Just think about that. What a ridiculous thing to say. Here, play this clip. But remember what President Trump said. He actually talked about the potential of getting territory back from the Russians. He said that. That's a public comment from him. So which territory?

16:57Pardon? He didn't say. It's almost like, you know, remember the president said he was going to end the war in 24 hours. We didn't say what day.

17:03Ben Meiselas:And then Kellogg, May 13th of this year, talks about imposing sanctions on Russia and how there's going to be these serious sanctions, which, you know, they all talk a tough game, but Russia's not been impacted at all by anything that Trump's done. Here, play this clip. I just talked to Lindsey, Senator Graham, Lindsey Graham just yesterday. And, you know, the United States has got the Russian Sanctions Act of 2025 really set to go. And he's got well over 70 senators that have signed up for it. And they could be significant sanctions. And we're talking primarily about their central bank or sanctions on what we call the dark fleet or the shadow fleet, which carries the majority of their illicit oil overseas.

17:44You know, and 70 percent of that comes out of the Baltics. And you can kind of start going after the shadow fleet and attack their, you know, the economics of it. And we've alerted President Putin to that. Look, this is very serious. These sanctions are very serious. They're harder than we've ever seen before. The Europeans are the same way. And you've got people like Chancellor Mertz, the new chancellor of Germany, who's very, very hard on the new sanctions, which is coming out, which is good.

18:06Ben Meiselas:And then the last time we really heard from him, Keith Kellogg, was September 14th, where he speaks at a military conference. And he said that he told Donald Trump that Ukraine was winning. And that's really the last time we heard from Keith Kellogg. Here, play this clip. It's a great question because I was actually asked this question by the president, President Trump, in the Oval Office probably six weeks ago. Same question. And I responded quite forcefully. And I finally said, Mr. President, don't just listen to me. Your chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Cain, is outside. He's out in the auditorium.

18:48Bring him in. ask him that question. He's your principal military advisor. And he did. And Dan said the same thing. They went, nope, not winning. So Putin could say he's winning all he wants. I know what he wants to do. I know he's trying to do it. But right now, he wants to take all of Donetsk and Kursan and Zaporizhia as well. But it's a slog for him. And it's the Russians. By the way, so how the Russians fight.

19:16Ben Meiselas:I think it's an important thing to know how Keith Kellogg has destroyed his reputation. Keith Kellogg, as Alex Plitsas says, Kellogg is a serious person. He's a retired Green Beret who commanded special operations command in Europe in the 82nd Airborne Division. He's a Silver Star recipient for actions in Vietnam with five bronze stars, including V for valor. He also fought in Panama and the Gulf War. Like he's a serious dude who's now just tarnished everything for the Trump regime. So he's gone. Zelensky outmaneuvered Trump in Turkey, but now we still see Russia killing the innocent Ukrainians.

20:00Ben Meiselas:A lot there to unpack, but who else is covering it the way we're covering it on the Midas Touch Network? This is serious, important stuff that needs to get more attention, but I hope we laid it out here in a way that you understand. Thanks for watching. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Slava Ukraine.

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