EXCLUSIVE! David Tafuri: terrifying TRUTH about PUTIN'S "MAXIMALIST" DEMAND and the US reaction

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:01]Welcome to UA TV. My name is Henry Keen.

[00:00:04]We're continuing to do what we do analyzing the most important events of the week that are changing the balance of power in the world in general and on the battlefield in Ukraine in particular. So, today our focus is on finding real leverage of influence over the Kremlin, the paradoxes of American sanctions policy and the political consequences of the technological leap no less of the Ukrainian defense industry. And to grasp all these processes the renowned American international lawyer and former US State Department official David Tafuri joins us in our broadcast online from Washington. David, hello.

[00:00:40]Hi, how are you? Great to see you. Yeah, Bob, welcome. Thank you so very much for joining. And I just introduced you in a way, but you wear many hats, right? So, perhaps you would like to add something to it.

[00:00:52]Well, I think you did a good job. I'm an international lawyer. I also do a lot of media as a commentator. I was just in Ukraine, just got back a few days ago from Ukraine. I had a very good visit and I think I was able to observe some things that have changed since the last time I was there.

[00:01:08]And what was it?

[00:01:11]I think things are turning in a positive way for Ukraine. The, you know, hard work and resources that Ukraine has put into developing drone technology and anti-drone technology seems to be having results on the battlefield. I note that last month was the first time that Ukraine has gained ground versus Russia.

[00:01:31]So, that's a positive for the Ukrainians and the Ukrainian armed forces. Well, I know it, of course, cuz I'm living and working in Ukraine, but it's very good thing that you've noticed.

[00:01:41]And this is a indeed a positive sign.

[00:01:43]Right, so let's get to the cracks of it.

[00:01:46]So, the Trump administration, right, declares its intention to find a diplomatic solution, but if you ask me, it faces this spit in their their And they just what? Wipe it off and continue to ignore Kremlin's absolute unwillingness to make concessions whatsoever. So, Moscow continues its usual, you know, Moscow being Moscow, you know, game of escalation while simultaneously trying to maintain the favor of its key global partners. Like this rhetoric has recently become in- increasingly interesting. Yes, I'm talking about China. So, my first question here, Xi Jinping stated during talks with Donald Trump that Putin might regret the invasion of Ukraine. Is that what? A signal of Beijing's readiness to support Washington's political pressure on the Kremlin? Or what was that, David?

[00:02:35]Any ideas?

[00:02:37]I'm really not sure. You President Xi obviously worked very hard to try to have a positive meeting with President Trump. He had all the pomp and circumstance to greet President Trump. He recognizes that President Trump likes that, that he appreciates that, that President Trump um puts a lot of emphasis on personal relationships with foreign leaders. So, I think President Xi probably said a number of things that he thought President Trump might want to hear. It doesn't mean President Xi actually means them or that President Xi will actually do anything about them. It would be wonderful if China tried to put pressure on Russia to give up in Ukraine and to pull back its forces. I think President Xi is correct in observing that Putin is going to regret this war. He probably already regrets this war. Hopefully he's maybe said some things that make President Xi believe that and that would suggest that maybe President Putin is willing to change his stance. But as you noted, with respect to the ceasefire negotiations, the demands by Putin are exactly the same as they have been since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Right. And indeed, I mean, since Putin's maximum demands just remain unchanged. And because he remains unchanged, right? Being an obsolete Soviet KGB officer.

[00:03:53]to put it mildly. What specific political and legal leverage of influence does the White House have to force the Kremlin to make real deal, real concessions during any direct negotiations? Or David, are there any in the first place?

[00:04:07]Oh, the White House has tons of leverage with respect to Russia. Unfortunately, they just have not been using it lately.

[00:04:15]The leverage comes in basically two forms. One is economic sanctions and economic retaliation against Russia and the other is providing weapons and support to the Ukrainian armed forces.

[00:04:26]And we still have sanctions on Russia.

[00:04:29]There was this temporary waiver of US sanctions on the sale of Russian oil that was already at sea. I think that was a mistake for the Trump administration to do, but hopefully there won't be any similar waivers. But if the Trump administration were to ratchet up sanctions and ratchet up enforcement and continue to put pressure through sanctions and tariffs on other countries that are buying Russian oil like India, for instance. At the same time, if the Trump administration also started again providing weapons and military support to the Ukrainian armed forces, that would be the type of leverage that would potentially result in Putin finally making compromises, making his demands for a ceasefire more reasonable, and that could lead to a potential productive discussion about a real ceasefire. But until the US in cooperation with Europe does does those two things, I'm not sure I believe that Putin will make any compromises. Well, that makes it two of us. Yeah, no, I I don't believe that. I don't believe Um we'll get back to that waiver, oil waiver. I mean, but Russia, my question now is Russia and Belarus are again waving nuclear gavel. I mean, announcing joint nuclear exercises.

[00:05:43]From a political standpoint of view, is this nuclear blackmail is it is it working with the West in general and the United States in particular, David? Do you think?

[00:05:54]Well, you asked about what leverage the White House has. Now, talking about what leverage Putin has, he has very little leverage. And the one piece of leverage he has is the fact that they are nuclear armed country, that they have one of the largest nuclear stockpiles in the world. And so, that's why Putin sometimes makes veiled threats that he might use nuclear weapons because it's really the only thing he has that would scare anyone in NATO.

[00:06:22]The Russian army has showed itself to be much weaker than anyone thought. They can barely handle the Ukrainian army, even though the Ukrainian army is much smaller. And so, the one thing he has is nuclear weapons and threatening to use them or reminding the world that he could use them. But if he were to use them, the the reaction by the world would be so substantial. I think Putin would have to worry that he would be taken out.

[00:06:46]Amen to that.

[00:06:48]Don't get me wrong. I I don't want you Putin to you know go nuclear. But is he bad or mad is a is it a big question for me personally.

[00:06:58]So, but while the West continues to seek a balance between all that, between pressuring the Kremlin and global market stability, sometimes well, making quite paradoxical decisions. Ukraine just you know, hits the target. So, if I say David, that hitting the target like those just for example, announced just hours ago, FSB headquarters in Crimea just blown to smithereens, more than 100 FSB officers killed, is this hitting the Kremlin harder than any Western sanctions ever could and would? Would you agree to that if I say it?

[00:07:36]Well, I don't know how to compare those two things, but I do think [clears throat] that Ukraine has tremendous success in hitting Russia deep into Russia including in Moscow and it hitting it where it really hurts for Russia like hitting its oil facilities hitting hitting its intelligence headquarters. And so that is having an impact on the war it's having and probably you know it's bringing down morale among the Russian people for certain and most importantly with respect to hitting Russia's oil facilities it's making harder for Russia to the revenues that it needs to continue the war machine. So all of those things are good things but I think that all of them need to continue Russia you know Putin is tremendously stubborn and so the only thing that's going to move him is both losing on the battlefield and facing even more dire economic consequences from sanctions and tariffs and other economic retaliation from the NATO powers and the other countries around the world that are supporting Ukraine and want this illegal war by Russia to end. Right.

[00:08:42]Um going back to you said it was a mistake that waiver on this oil sanctions was a mistake. Why do you think this is a mistake for Washington?

[00:08:53]It was a tremendous mistake because it gave Putin an opening to sell more oil anytime you do a waiver like that even if the waiver ends it helps normalize the sale of Russian oil so it makes customers around the world more willing to buy Russian oil and before the Iran war started Russia was really facing a difficult circumstances one of its largest buyers India was starting to wean itself off of Russian oil and this gave Russia an opening again to say hey it's okay look at what the US said it's okay for us to sell our oil it's okay for you to buy our oil you should buy it at a higher price than you were buying it at and which is also a a problem because at least when Russia sells oil it's at a tremendous discount because of the US sanctions so anytime we ease the sanctions, the price goes up for Russia.

[00:09:41]And and Ukraine is not going to stop gas. Say necessity breeds innovation, they say, something like that. So Ukraine's military innovations are they shaping not only the battlefield but also new diplomatic reality, are they not? So no more asking, Ukraine is delivering and delivering the precious commodity on the markets and the demand is skyrocketing. A, cheap scalable air defense. B, actual combat expertise. And C, integrated systems like like Delta to command it all. So is the United States ready to acknowledge that Ukraine, you know, has cards?

[00:10:17]And they're all trumps, maybe?

[00:10:19]Well, first of all, I'm glad you mentioned Delta. I had the opportunity to visit with Ukrainian brigade that does air that does drone assault and we were able to look at Delta and see how that works and it is a magnificent program and the innovation has been incredible on the Ukrainian side and I do like what's happening with respect to many countries around the world, especially in the Gulf, because of the Iran war, seeking the help from Ukraine and that shows that Ukraine has something very important to contribute to its allies and to NATO countries and I think there's broad recognition of that.

[00:11:00]That's why there's been so much interest in getting that Ukraine technology.

[00:11:03]Ukraine has some difficult decisions.

[00:11:05]Ukraine has to keep all of the drones and anti-drones that it has and that it needs to continue to fight against Russia, but surplus, if if there is surplus, that can be exported to allies, will also increase goodwill with those allies for Ukraine and demonstrate the usefulness and the effectiveness of the Ukrainian army as a partner to countries that are supporting Ukraine.

[00:11:30]Reuters has just recently reported that China directly trained Russian military personnel for the war against Ukraine.

[00:11:36]Do you believe David there will be any consequences in terms of United States, I don't know, secondary sanctions maybe against Beijing? No, nothing? No?

[00:11:46]I think there should be consequences both for the support that China provides to Russia and also there are credible reports that China has been supporting Iran. Even after the Iran war started, China was potentially shipping shoulder-fired rockets to Iran that could be used to take down US military aircraft. So, there should be consequences. I think there's great discontent within the Pentagon over these actions by China. Obviously, the broader relationship with China is very important. President Trump has to make decisions about that are best for the broader relationship, but we do need to show China that it's not acceptable for China to be helping Russia in its illegal war against Ukraine.

[00:12:27]I can only repeat myself. Again, David, thank you so very much. Thank you for this deep and meaningful conversation.

[00:12:33]Just promise to let me know when you're in Ukraine and we do it in our studio.

[00:12:38]Well, the Slava Ukraini. Heroyam slava.

[00:12:41]Dziękuję.

[00:12:43]We just discussed key scenarios and political pressure tools, but the main question remains open for discussion.

[00:12:49]Call to action, really. Dear viewers, we urge you to take action. Comment in the section below what should be the real White House answer when it becomes finally clear that the Kremlin is not really ready for any compromises whatsoever. We look forward to hearing from you in the comment section below.

[00:13:06]And you appreciate it what our team does. Just like, share this video and subscribe UATV. Thank you. We'll talk.

[00:13:13]Goodbye.