"Donald Trump's desire to end the war in Ukraine might be sincere, but his motives are selfish. He wants the glory of having brokered a deal and does not care whether it is fair or not. As for Vladimir Putin, he only wants peace on terms that achieve things which the Russian army has failed to manage with force. The Kremlin demands territory not yet won on the battlefield and limitations to Ukraine's capacity to act as a fully sovereign state."
"Mr Trump has never shown much natural aversion to giving Mr Putin what he wants. He has not applied serious pressure on the Kremlin to end its aggression, nor rebuked the Russian president for starting the war. He sees nothing wrong with a process that discusses the fate of a country, including de facto partition of its territory, without representatives of that country at the table."
"If Ukraine's interests are factored into White House thinking at all, it is down to assiduous diplomacy by its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and his European allies. Their interventions have so far prevented Mr Trump selling Kyiv out completely, much to the Kremlin's frustration. This week's trip to Moscow by the White House envoy, Steve Witkoff usually a credulous audience for Russian negotiators produced no breakthrough. Mr Putin attributes the impasse to sabotage of the process by Nato's European members."
Donald Trump seeks to end the war in Ukraine primarily for personal glory and shows willingness to concede Ukrainian interests. Vladimir Putin seeks peace that secures territorial and sovereignty gains that the Russian military has not achieved by force. The White House has not applied sustained pressure on Russia nor rebuked its invasion, and appears willing to discuss Ukraine's fate without Ukrainian representatives. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European allies, led by the UK, have countered pro‑Russian White House tendencies and helped prevent a complete sell‑out of Kyiv. Russian propaganda targets Britain and negotiations remain stalled.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]