{"id":328617,"date":"2025-08-08T19:08:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T19:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/328617\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T19:08:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T19:08:19","slug":"with-zelenskyy-sidelined-from-ukraine-war-talks-trump-appears-to-hand-putin-a-diplomatic-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/328617\/","title":{"rendered":"With Zelenskyy sidelined from Ukraine war talks, Trump appears to hand Putin a diplomatic win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when Ukraine<\/a> and its European allies thought President Donald Trump<\/a> was coming round to their view of the war, he appeared to give a huge win to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For Kyiv, this was Trump\u2019s deadline to Putin<\/a>: stop the fighting by Friday or face tough new economic sanctions. Instead, Trump has handed Moscow a diplomatic coup by agreeing to meet Putin face-to-face <\/a>in a matter of days, their first encounter since the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Trump had initially suggested that such a summit would only go ahead if Putin agreed to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a>, something the Ukrainian president\u2019s administration has long called for but has been resisted by Russia. On Thursday, Trump dispelled the idea<\/a> that they would have to get together \u2014 raising the specter of a bilateral negotiation that freezes out Kyiv.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe danger for Ukraine is actually quite grave,\u201d said Jonathan Eyal, international director at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. \u201cThere will be a sense of alarm in European capitals.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Eyal and others, Ukraine\u2019s nightmare is now one step closer to reality: \u201cTrump will be so pleased by what he perceives as the great achievement of getting Putin to the negotiating table, that he grabs any kind of offer that is made,\u201d, Eyal said. \u201cThe danger of half-baked compromise, which Trump can claim as his main achievement, is very high.\u201d<\/p>\n

That compromise could be a temporary ceasefire that would allow Russia to restock its army and give its economy a break from international sanctions, according to Hope for Ukraine, a nonprofit organization based in Roseland, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

\"RussianRussian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Even if there is no truce agreement, \u201ca meeting with Trump \u2014 no matter the outcome \u2014 would be a big diplomatic victory for Putin,\u201d Gabriella Ramirez, Hope for Ukraine\u2019s executive assistant, said in an email. \u201cPutin wants to break his diplomatic isolation\u201d and such a meeting \u201cwill stroke his ego.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cmeeting with Putin is a trap; President Trump must not fall for it,\u201d Ramirez added.<\/p>\n

Ukraine now finds itself in a bind.<\/p>\n

\u201cZelenskyy cannot appear to be torpedoing what is a Trump initiative,\u201d Eyal said. After his catastrophic fallout with Trump in the White House in February, Zelenskyy has \u201cjust managed to repair his relationship with Trump over the last two months in a very gingerly fashion, and it would be the worst possible thing for him to appear now to be pooh-poohing this summit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many Ukrainians were already skeptical. Before the summit was even announced, Artem Bidenko, a political scientist and former deputy minister in Ukraine\u2019s government, predicted that Putin \u201cwill most likely offer some kind of bone\u201d to Trump, who \u201cwill say that \u2018you see, I\u2019m doing well, I\u2019m already achieving peace, and people will stop dying,\u2019\u201d Bidenko said.<\/p>\n

The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News\u2019 request for comment on these criticisms.<\/p>\n

Others in Kyiv have more faith in the American leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump seems to be irritated enough by the Russians\u2019 actions to dare to strike really strong blows at Russia,\u201d said Danylo Vereitin, 31, a sports journalist based in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. \u201cPeople with this type of mentality really don\u2019t like to look weak or vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the presidential campaign last year, Trump said it would take him just 24 hours to solve the conflict, later updated that to six months and then seemingly forgot about it. Previous warm words about Putin have recently turned stern, and Trump appeared to be losing patience with Russia\u2019s \u201cdisgusting\u201d and \u201cdisgraceful\u201d nightly missile attacks on Ukrainian civilians while the White House was attempting to broker peace talks.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentTrump greets his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in February. Chip Somodevilla \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

This culminated in Trump\u2019s deadline, first set at 50 days on July 14, then shortened to 10 days on July 29, for Putin to agree a ceasefire or face tariffs<\/a> against importers of Russian oil and gas products like China, India, Brazil and Turkey.<\/p>\n

Asked whether this deadline was still active, Trump told reporters Thursday, \u201cIt\u2019s going to be up to him\u201d \u2014 meaning Putin \u2014 \u201cand we\u2019re going to see what he has to say,\u201d adding that he was \u201cvery disappointed\u201d at the situation.<\/p>\n

A senior White House official told NBC News Friday that the Russians have provided a list of demands for a potential ceasefire, and the U.S. is now trying to get buy-in from the Ukrainians and European allies.<\/p>\n

But Trump’s ultimatums have not prompted the Kremlin to move one inch on its war in Ukraine so far, other than to give Trump a meeting. <\/p>\n

\u201cNothing has changed since, frankly, December 2021, when Putin offered his ultimatum and said, \u2018Give me what I want or else Ukraine gets it,\u201d said James Nixey, a U.K.-based consultant specializing on Russia.<\/p>\n

\"DailyRescuers from Ukraine’s Emergency Services search through the rubble of a building bombed by Russian forces last month. Pierre Crom \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump has done everything to pressure Russia, short of actually doing anything to pressure Russia,\u201d he added. \u201cHe\u2019s made all sorts of pronouncements, threats and Truth Social posts, but not actually undertaken any specific act which harms Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2021, Russia\u2019s eight-point draft treaty looks much the same as today : a ban on Ukraine ever joining NATO and a withdrawal of NATO forces on Russia\u2019s eastern flank. Today, Russia has merely added the additional demand of even more Ukrainian territory.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has rejected the idea of a ceasefire that would have Russia maintain control over Ukrainian territory in its control, and insisted that any agreement must include \u201csecurity guarantees\u201d from its allies so that Moscow is not able to launch future aggression.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin wants Ukraine, Ukraine wants to exist, Trump wants an end to the war and to be able to deal with Russia,\u201d Nixey said. \u201cAll of the major players have different agendas and none of them are aligned on anything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just when Ukraine and its European allies thought President Donald Trump was coming round to their view of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332],"class_list":{"0":"post-328617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114994722262094515","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}