Just when Ukraine and its European allies thought that President Donald Trump came from their point of view, he seemed to give a huge victory to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
For kyiv, it was Trump’s deadline in Putin: stop fighting by Friday or face new difficult economic sanctions. Instead, Trump gave Moscow a diplomatic coup by agreeing to meet Putin face to face in a few days, their first meeting since the invasion of Ukraine.
Trump had initially suggested that such a summit would only go ahead if Putin agreed to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which the administration of the Ukrainian president has long asked but was resisted by Russia. Trump dissipated the idea that they should meet – raising the spectrum of a bilateral negotiation that freezes kyiv on Thursday.
“The danger for Ukraine is actually quite serious,” said Jonathan Eyal, international director of the Royal United Services Institute, a London -based reflection group. “There will be a feeling of alarm in European capitals.”
For Eyal and others, Ukraine’s nightmare is now one more step from reality: “Trump will be so happy with what he perceives as the great achievement of bringing Putin to the negotiation table, that he seizes all kinds of offer that is made,” said Eyal. “The danger of a half -cooked compromise, which Trump can claim as his main achievement, is very high.”
This compromise could be a temporary cease-fire that would allow Russia to restore its army and give its economy to its economy of international sanctions, according to Hope for Ukraine, a non-profit organization based in Roseland, New Jersey.
Even if there is no truce agreement, “a meeting with Trump – whatever the result – would be a great diplomatic victory for Putin,” said Gabriella Ramirez, Hope for Ukraine, the executive assistant in Ukraine, in an email. “Putin wants to break her diplomatic isolation” and such a meeting “will caress his ego”.
The “meeting with Putin is a trap; President Trump should not fall in love, ”added Ramirez.
Ukraine is now found in a link.
“Zelenskyy cannot seem to be torpedoing what is a Trump initiative,” said Eyal. After his catastrophic fallout with Trump in the White House in February, Zelenskyy has “managed to repair his relationship with Trump in the past two months in a very precarious way, and it would be the worst thing possible for him to appear now as poop this summit.”
Many Ukrainians were already skeptical. Even before the summit is announced, Artem Bidenko, political scientist and former deputy minister of the Ukraine government, predicted that Putin “will most likely offer a kind of bone” to Trump, who “will say that” you see, I am well, I already realize peace, and people will stop dying “”, “said Bidenko.
The White House did not immediately respond to the request for comments from NBC News on these criticism.
Others in Kyiv have no more confidence in the American chief.
“Trump seems to be sufficiently irritated by the actions of the Russians to dare to strike very strong blows in Russia,” said Danylo Vereitin, 31, a sports journalist based in kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. “People with this type of mentality really don’t like looks weak or vulnerable.”
During the presidential campaign last year, Trump said that it would only take him to resolve the conflict, then updated this at six months, then apparently forgotten it. The previous words previous on Putin recently turned the stern, and Trump seemed to lose patience with the “disgusting” and “shameful” nighttime missile attacks from Russia against Ukrainian civilians while the White House tried to negotiate peace talks.
This led to Trump’s deadline, taking place for the first time at 50 days on July 14, then shortened at 10 days on July 29, so that Putin accepts a ceasefire or prices against importers of Russian and gas products like China, India, Brazil and Turkey.
When asked if this period was still active, Trump told journalists on Thursday: “It will give him” – which means Putin – “and we will see what he has to say”, adding that he was “very disappointed” of the situation.
A senior White House official told NBC News on Friday that the Russians had provided a list of potential ceasefire requests, and the United States is now trying to obtain the membership of European Ukrainians and allies.
But Trump’s ultimatums have not encouraged the Kremlin to move a thumb to his war in Ukraine so far, except to give Trump a meeting.
“Nothing has changed since, frankly, December 2021, when Putin offered his ultimatum and said:” Give me what I want, otherwise Ukraine gets it, “said James Nixey, a consultant based in the United Kingdom specializing in Russia.
“Trump did everything to put pressure on Russia, unless anything is done to put pressure on Russia,” he added. “He made all kinds of statements, threats and social publications, but has not really undertaken a specific act that harms Russia.”
In 2021, the Treaty of the Eight points of Russia looks like many that today: a ban on Ukraine never joining NATO and a withdrawal from NATO forces on the eastern flank of Russia. Today, Russia has simply added the additional demand of more Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine rejected the idea of a cease-fire which would have made Russia maintain control over the Ukrainian territory of its control, and insisted on the fact that any agreement must include “security guarantees” of its allies so that Moscow is unable to launch a future aggression.
“Putin wants Ukraine, Ukraine wants to exist, Trump wants the end of the war and be able to face Russia,” said Nixey. “All the main players have different programs and none of them are aligned with anything.”
