If – and it’s a big one when – Fast and truly resistant peace in Ukraine is achieved, then Donald Trump will be able to iron with the honor. If the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zenskyy seem to meet the process in which the Russian dictator Vladimir will soon seem to meet, then the American president has let his ears hang to Putin. After he rolled out the red carpet for him in Alaska on Friday and forced no ceasefires, Trump was friendly on Monday, but less indulgent to European leaders.
The Ukrainian President VolodyMyr Zensky, NATO boss Mark Rutte, chairman of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and five alliance government leaders did not get what they had come to the White House in a hurry: US security guarantees for Ukraine that may be redesigned in the coming weeks.
The win of their visit was that they left without a new fight between Zensky and Trump. An appointment was made about a Ukrainian purchase of US weapons with $ 90 billion in European money. The most important breakthrough: within two weeks a meeting must take place at an unknown location between Putin and Zensky, followed by a top with Trump.
Vrede was not so close since the Russian invasion of February 2022. At the same time, none of the conditions for achieving them have been arranged.
The bilateral encounter between Trump and Zensky on Monday, prior to the meeting with the delegation of the European ‘Coalition of the Willing‘, was under high voltage because of the escalation in the Oval Office in February. Trump and in particular vice president JD Vance accused the Ukrainian leader then thanklessness and bonjourden back to Ukraine without lunch and without raw material deal. “You don’t have the cards,” Trump snarled when Zensky tried to make it clear that Putin never complies with agreements.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zensky, the US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pose for a photo in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington.
Photo Aaron Schwartz/EPA
A meeting around the funeral of Pope Francis in April had cleared the air a bit, but Trumps dedication to the sovereignty of Ukraine remains uncertain. Zensky even had a black suit, without a tie, fitted on Monday, after criticism from a Trumpist journalist about his clothing during the visit in February. He did not bite questions from the same man, nor of Fox News Whether he continues to kill Ukrainian soldiers’, but walked over with gratitude and compliments (See video at the top). Also for First Lady Melania, who asked Putin for the suffering of war children in a letter to Putin. Trump held himself on the plain and did not exclude anything in terms of guarantees for Ukraine. He was clearly not looking for confrontation on Monday, but also averse to American obligations.
That was precisely what Zensky and the seven other Europeans asked for their conversation during the press. Chancellor Friedrich Merz insisted on a ceasefire. Just like French President Emmanuel Macron “to stop killing.” On Monday at least ten Ukrainians, including a toddler, died in Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni emphasized the importance of “article-5-like” security guarantees (as they exist within the NATO alliance where the government wants to keep Trump Ukraine out) “so that it does not happen again.” Europe would take the lead in that, Macron told Trump, but only with American back -on: “You can count on us if we can count on you.” Vance was watching angrily on the second ride.
Meat mill
The European coalition agrees that a possible security mission in Ukraine must mainly consist of European soldiers, but that Putin will never take this seriously without American air support, navy ships and even nuclear threat. That Trump refuses to say this is not only due to his need to Apaize on Putin, but mainly because he cannot explain his supporters how such a military presence far away ‘America Firstis. With Vance, many Americans find that no dollars and, above all, no soldier’s life on Ukraine should be sacrificed. Although in the Senate there is a large majority for persistent support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.
For the time being, Trump is leaving Trump in the middle what the Americans will contribute and does not want to be bothered with details about a peace force, redesigning the border, or justice for the kidnapped children and killed Ukrainians. As long as peace comes.
The question that nobody could answer at the table in the White House is whether Putin actually wants that. Foreign Minister Marco Rubio was skeptical about it at the weekend. The Russians “have the feeling that they have momentum on the battlefield and to be honest they don’t care how many Russian soldiers die (…) It is a meat mill and they just have more meat to grind.” European leaders fell optimism. Trump is convinced. When his microphone by accident, he whispered Macron: “I think he (Putin, ed.) Want to close a deal for me, do you understand? No matter how crazy it sounds.”
This confirms the European fear that Trump will be packed by Putin’s strategy and flattery. He wisely kept how much confidence Zensky has in further negotiations. He does not want to be blamed to be the obstacle for peace and Trumps to be Nobel Prize for that. But it is difficult to imagine how he could agree to give away territory that the Russians have not been able to conquer militarily since their 2014 invasion. Certainly since the Ukrainian constitution stipulates that land can only be specified per referendum. Nuances who are not spent on Trump or Putin.