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Zelensky reveals full 20-point peace plan draft backed by Ukraine, US Politics Zelensky reveals full 20-point peace plan draft backed by Ukraine, US December 24, 2025 10:00 am • 8 min read Prefer on Google by Kateryna Denisova, Oleksiy Sorokin President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a speech on the stand in front of the first General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon received by Ukraine, congratulating the Ukrainian military on Aug. 4, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images) After weeks of talks, Ukraine and the U.S. have prepared a draft of the revised peace plan to end Russia’s full-scale war. The initial 28-point plan , which effectively pushed Ukraine toward capitulation, has been reworked into a 20-point framework, which President Volodymyr Zelensky presented to journalists on Dec. 23 for the first time. In addition, a three-party security guarantee draft between Ukraine, the U.S., and Europe has been developed, as well as a bilateral security guarantee agreement between Ukraine and the U.S. Another document between Kyiv and Washington is focused on economic cooperation and was described as the "roadmap for Ukraine’s prosperity." "We have made significant prog…

Ukraine peace deal hard because of hatred between Putin and ... - CNBC An "abnormal hatred" between Russia and Ukraine's leaders remains a barrier to ending the war, but a peace deal is getting closer, President Donald Trump said as he prepares to resume his peacemaker role. "There's tremendous hatred between President Zelenskyy and President Putin. That's not good. That's not good for settlements," Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. "There's abnormal hatred. With that being said, I think Russia wants to make a deal. I think Ukraine wants to make a deal, and we're going to try getting a deal done," he said, adding: "If they don't, they're stupid." Trump is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Davos on Thursday, while Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow later in the day. Trump said both sides were "reasonably close" to a deal, while Witkoff told CNBC Wednesday that"land deals" over Ukrainewere a last sticking point to ending the almost four-year long war. Witkoff made further comments on the progress of negotiations on Thursday, tellin…

It Took Trump Only Twenty-four Days to Sell Out Ukraine Save this story Save this story Save this story Save this story Has Vladimir Putin ever had a better few days in Washington? Donald Trump , just four weeks into his second term, has executed a breathtaking pivot toward Moscow, reversing course after years of ruptured relations between the U.S. and Russia that resulted from Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. First, Trump signed off on gutting the U.S. Agency for International Development, delighting the Russian government, whose spokeswoman called it “a machine for interfering” in other countries’ affairs. Also on the chopping block may soon be Radio Free Europe, a Cold War legacy project whose coverage of Putin’s Russia has long infuriated the Kremlin. “Yes, shut them down,” Trump’s billionaire buddy and sometimes Putin interlocutor Elon Musk tweeted over the weekend. Then, on Wednesday, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm the former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s controversial nominee to become the director of National Intelligence. Gabbard has, like Trump himself, often amplified Russian talking points about the war in Ukraine—a key reason Mitch McConnell, the …

Zelensky calls for a European army, warns Russia not preparing ... - CNBC Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday called for the creation of a European army to boost the continent's defenses as he warned that Russia was "not preparing for dialogue" to advance possible credible peace talks. Zelenskyy said Kyiv had intelligence that Russia plans to send troops to its ally Belarus this summer under the pretense of training exercises, dubbing it a new "Russian province" that poses a direct threat to bordering NATO countries. "We must build the armed forces of Europe, so that Europe's future depends only on Europeans and decisions on Europe are made in Europe," Zelenskyy told the Munich Security Conference in Germany, in a nod to seemingly wavering U.S support for the region's security. "Europe has to become self sufficient, united by common strengths," he continued. "Let's be honest now, we can't rule out the possibility that America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it." The Ukrainian president met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Friday to discuss rising hopes for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, but noted that his country wanted "security guarantees" be…

Trump's False and Misleading Ukraine Claims - FactCheck.org Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de El Tiempo Latino. After U.S. and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump made several false and misleading statements about the conflict and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump falsely claimed that Ukraine had “started” the war with Russia, saying the country could have made a “deal.” Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He inflated the amount of U.S. aid for Ukraine and wrongly said the U.S. gave “$200 billion more than Europe.” Aid from Europe is higher than that from the U.S. Trump distorted comments Zelenskyy made to claim that the Ukrainian president “admits that half of the money that we sent them is missing.” A Trump administration official has said the U.S. tracks the money. Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator” and misleadingly said that he “refuses” to have elections. Because of the war, the country is under martial law and can’t have an election, according to Ukrainian law. The talks between the U.S. and Russia in Saudi Arabia, led by U.S. Secretary of State Marc…

Putin knows he's in trouble. It's time to kick him while he's down R ussia is losing its war against Ukraine . Proof of this has come from Vladimir Putin himself , who has admitted all is not going to plan and issued a desperate call for a return to peace talks while his oil refineries burn and his bridges to occupied territory are pounded by Kyiv’s missiles. Russia’s president has been badly rattled ; his airports are closed, his military logistics chain has dangerously snapped, and public support is waning for a war he started, and for which Russia’s national media can no longer generate artificial enthusiasm. In an interview on Sunday , he made a rare admission that the country was suffering from fuel shortages as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes. His minions have been whining that an agreement they believe was struck with Donald Trump at the Anchorage summit with Putin last year – giving Moscow colonial ownership of 20 per cent of Ukraine – has been abandoned by the US president. Trump likes to back a winner. So far he has backed Russia, which invaded a democratic European nation at full scale in February 2022. open image in gallery Vladimir Putin said he was ready for peac…

Russian Strikes On Ukraine Test Diplomacy As US Congress Presses For Action Share Share WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Kremlin’s resumption of its campaign of air strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ignited a firestorm of bipartisan calls on Capitol Hill for immediate action to support Kyiv, but a more measured response from the White House. The strikes on February 3 came just days before US-facilitated negotiations were set to resume, underscoring what lawmakers and Ukrainian officials described as a familiar Kremlin tactic: using diplomacy to buy time while ratcheting up strikes in what is already Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II. Overnight barrages struck energy infrastructure across multiple regions, knocking out heat and electricity during one of the coldest winter spells this year. No media source currently available Ukrainian officials said the attacks left cities freezing and reinforced concerns in Washington that negotiations without enforcement mechanisms risk emboldening Moscow rather than restraining it. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump was not surprised by the renewed attacks, describing the collapse of the …

Zelenskyy Offers To Drop NATO Bid For Security Guarantees ... - HuffPost LOADING ERROR LOADING BERLIN (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he held talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war. Zelenskyy sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump ’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner . The Ukrainian leader posted pictures of the negotiating table with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sitting next to him facing the U.S. delegation. Advertisement Responding to journalists’ questions in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat before the talks, Zelenskyy said that since the U.S. and some European nations had rejected Ukraine’s push to join NATO, Kyiv expects the West to offer a set of guarantees similar to those offered to the alliance members. “These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” he said. “And this is already a compromise on our part.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has cast Ukraine’s bid to join NATO as a major threat to Mosc…

Europe must finally take charge of its security — starting in Ukraine Opinion Europe must finally take charge of its security — starting in Ukraine If it wants a lasting peace on the continent, Europe must finally take responsibility for its own security in Ukraine. by Tennyson Dearing February 28, 2025 1:21 PM 4 min read (L-R) Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, and Finnish PresidentAlexander Stubb walk past a memorial for those killed fighting for Ukraine during Russia's war against Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2025. (Eduard Kryzhanivskyi/Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images) Prefer on Google by Tennyson Dearing It ended with a bang, not a whimper. By the close of this year’s Munich Security Conference, the old U.S.-led security order appeared to have changed unrecognizably. Now, as Russia’s full-scale war enters its fourth year and peace talks begin, without clarity on Europe’s or Ukraine’s roles, both should adjust to their new strategic reality. If it wants lasting…

Russia signals no rush for a deal to end Ukraine war and "no deadlines ... Geneva — Russia signaled Thursday that it was in no rush to make a deal to end its war on Ukraine , hours after it attacked the neighboring country with hundreds of drones and missiles and as U.S. and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva to discuss efforts to end the war. President Trump has been pushing for an end to Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, but has so far failed to broker any agreement between Moscow and Kyiv. Previous rounds of U.S.-led negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Geneva and Abu Dhabi failed to yield a compromise, with Moscow's demand to take formal ownership of a vast portion of Ukraine proving a key sticking point. Russia, which has for years refused to budge on its demand for full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, said Thursday it was too early to make forecasts about when a deal would take place. "Have you heard anything from us about deadlines? We have no deadlines, we have tasks. We are getting them done," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told state media in Moscow, two days into the fifth year of his country's full-scale invasion of …

Putin demands 'Ukrainian withdrawal from East, rejects ceasefire'. Will ... Peace proposals discussed during the Alaska summit betweenRussia's Vladimir Putin and Donald Trumpinvolve Russia giving up small areas of occupied Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine would agree to hand over large parts of its eastern region that Moscow has so far failed to seize, sources briefed on Moscow's thinking told Reuters. Also Read:Zelensky-Trump meeting: European leaders to join Ukraine President in Washington for talks The report follows the recent meeting between Trump and Putin at a U.S. air force base in Alaska, their first face-to-face discussion since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit Washington on Monday to meet with Trump and explore a potential resolution to the war, which began in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion. Reuters reported. Although the summit failed to secure the ceasefire he said he had wanted, Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had “largely agreed”. "I think we're pretty close to a…

Trump has again changed his mind on Ukraine. But for how long? - CNN Donald Trump speaking at the UNGA this week. The president has made an abrupt shift on Ukraine. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Donald Trump Russia NATO War in Ukraine See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! Follow When does the unexpected become so regular it is expected? The head-spinning twists emerge so frequently in US President Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy they have become mundane. On Tuesday, Trump suggested Ukraine could reclaim all occupied land because of NATO arms supplies, their will to fight and Russia’s economic frailty. All this from a man who once said Ukraine should cede land to its invader and rolled out the red carpet for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. This would all be easy to tune out, were they not coming from the most important voice – in the West at least – when it comes to the largest European war since the 1940s. What does Tuesday night’s 180-degree turn mean, even with the caveat that the world’s most powerful man may spin onwards to perform a full 360, and end up back where he was on Monday – lacking any traction in a peace process he instigated, but failing t…

No End In Sight: Russia's War On Ukraine Drags On Amid Lack Of ... - Forbes Opinion No End In Sight: Russia's War On Ukraine Drags On Amid Lack Of Western Consensus By Katya Soldak , Forbes Staff. Katya is the editorial director of Forbes international editions. Follow Author Sep 22, 2025, 06:54am EDT Sep 23, 2025, 07:02am EDT Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Fareed Zakharia in Kyiv, September 2025 at YES2025 conference. Victor Pinchuk Foundation/YES ©2025, Nicolas Lobet, Valentyna Rostovikova, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM) More than three and a half years into Russia's full-scale invasion, and over a decade since Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and eastern territories, Ukraine continues to defend its sovereignty under conditions that are militarily, politically, and economically grueling. The biggest problem is the absence of a unified vision—among Ukraine's partners or even internally—on what ending the war actually means. A diverse group of international leaders, military officials, and policy architects gathered in Kyiv in mid-September for the Yalta European Strategy 21st annual summit (YES), organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation. Named for …

Trump Makes U-Turn on Ukraine and Russia Policy Report Trump Makes U-Turn on Ukraine Rhetoric Trump says Ukraine can win back all of its territory. By Sam Skove , a staff writer at Foreign Policy . From left, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (middle left) speaks during a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 23. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Russia Ukraine September 23, 2025, 5:51 PM Russia’s War in Ukraine Understanding the conflict four years on. More on this topic U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to back a major reversal in U.S. policy on Ukraine, stating Tuesday that he believed Kyiv could win back all of Ukraine “in its original form.” The statement , made following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York, runs counter to Trump’s previously stated belief that the war between Russia and Ukraine would only end with Ukraine ceding some territory. U.S. President Donald Trum…

As Trump Woos Russia, Kremlin Shifts Blame to Europe By AFP March 6, 2025 Sergei Bobylev / TASS For three years, the Kremlin saw the United States as its biggest enemy, accusing U.S. President Joe Biden of prolonging the Ukraine conflict by supplying weapons to Kyiv. But with U.S. President Donald Trump initiating a rapprochement with Moscow and halting support for Ukraine, the Kremlin is redirecting much of its anger towards European leaders who have stood by the embattled country. Pro-Kremlin media and pundits have amplified Trump's criticism of Kyiv and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while accusing Europe of wanting to "continue" the fighting. And Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov last week described Europe — not the United States — as being the main obstacle to peace in Ukraine. "Europe is replacing the United States as a bogeyman in our propaganda, and will gradually replace it in people's minds," independent analyst Konstantin Kalachev told AFP. By shifting the blame away from the U.S. to Europe, Russia can keep its rallying cry of being encroached upon by a hostile West, he said — while opening the door to potential cooperation with the Whit…

"My war is the war in Ukraine," Stubb tells The Telegraph | Yle News "Now everything is different," writes The Telegraph's David Blair after meeting Finnish President Alexander Stubb in London . Blair previously interviewed Stubb last year shortly after he had played golf with Donald Trump in Florida. "At the time, Stubb thought that Trump might join hands with the EU to impose punitive sanctions on Russia if Putin failed to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine," Blair writes. Now the Finnish president "seems more sombre, thoughtful, perhaps slightly chastened," the paper writes. The US president did not impose tough sanctions on Russia. Instead, his administration has now moved to ease them. "I think I'm more pessimistic now, in that sense, more realistic," Stubb said when asked if he was too optimistic a year earlier. According to the Financial Times, higher oil prices and looser US sanctions are adding an extra $150 million a day to Russia's war chest. As for the future of the transatlantic relationship, The Telegraph writes that Stubb's message has gone from guarded optimism to "salvage what you can." "I am taken aback by how Stubb, the quintessential optimist, now believes that the b…

Trump's new Ukraine stance is meant to pressure Putin ... - CNN President Donald Trump (R) speaks during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2025 in New York City. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Donald Trump Russia War in Ukraine See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! Follow President Donald Trump’s abrupt shift on the war in Ukraine this week came amid fresh frustration at Russian President Vladimir Putin, and was intended to apply more pressure on Moscow to come to the negotiating table, according to US officials. By publicly declaring Ukraine could regain all its territory — a position few NATO leaders share, at least without a dramatic shift in the battlefield dynamics — Trump hopes to jumpstart the process of getting the two sides to a peace deal, the officials said. Whether Trump’s new stance actually results in a new round of talks remains to be seen. Neither the president nor top officials previewed any imminent new steps from the United States, such as more sanctions on Russia or massive new military aid for Ukraine, that might help shift the trajectory of the wa…

Why Ukraine Shouldn't Negotiate with Putin | Journal of Democracy Select your citation format: Those promising a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine operate under the mistaken assumption that there exists some combination of territorial and policy compromises that would satisfy all sides and bring about a stable long-term peace. In fact, the conflict is more intractable than ever: Bargaining models of war termination predict that peace negotiations are likely to fail. Win, lose, or draw, the war will be settled on the battlefield, not at the negotiating table. The stakes couldn’t be higher: Whether the West continues its support for Ukraine’s fight or forces Kyiv to make a deal with the devil, the consequences for international security and global democracy will reverberate for years to come. “All wars end in negotiation.” This misleading cliché has regularly been heard since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. If time is not on Ukraine’s side and a diplomatic settlement is the only way to end the war, so the argument goes, then it is better to face the facts and get down to the business of negotiating sooner rather than later. Since these calls ofte…

Kyiv Accelerates Diplomacy With Washington Ahead of UN ... - KyivPost In brief:As President Zelensky ramps up diplomacy, his top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, leads Kyiv’s talks with Washington on a sensitive economic and security pact. WASHINGTON DC – As Russia’s war grinds on and diplomacy accelerates, Kyiv is moving on multiple fronts at once – intensifying daily contact with Washington, rallying European allies, and preparing for a high-stakes showdown at the UN – even as plans quietly advance for an ambitious US-Ukraine reconstruction pact that could reshape the postwar order. President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturdayunderscoredthe pace and intensity of talks with the Trump administration, saying communication with US officials is now “practically every day.” Follow our coverage of the war on the@Kyivpost_official. According to Zelensky, the top negotiator Rustem Umerov again reached out to American counterparts on Saturday, in the latest round of contacts. “This is our strategic task: dialogue with the United States must be one hundred percent constructive,” Zelensky said, adding, “Ukraine has never been and never will be an obstacle to diplomacy.” The White House was reac…

Scott Ritter: Kiev Faces Reality Check on Peace Terms Scott Ritter Says Kiev Can No Longer Set the Terms for Peace RusPhotoBank John Baker, Editor 09:47 27-11-2025 Scott Ritter argues that Kiev’s refusal to accept the realities of the conflict leaves Ukraine unable to dictate peace terms as Washington urges a return to pragmatism. Add Военное дело to your preferred Google sources Former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and military analyst Scott Ritter believes that Kyiv’s rigid stance on peace negotiations has stripped Ukraine of any ability to set conditions for Moscow. Speaking on Andrew Napolitano’s YouTube channel, he stressed that the Ukrainian leadership still refuses to acknowledge the real balance of power, leaving the country without leverage. According to Ritter, Washington’s main message to Kiev now revolves around forcing Ukrainian authorities to accept the situation on the ground as it is. He recalled that this was the purpose of the recent visit by US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, who reportedly delivered a blunt assessment: Ukraine is losing the conflict, has no means to reverse the course, and is moving toward an unavoidable military collapse. Driscoll, as R…

Twenty questions (and expert answers) about the negotiations to end ... Ukraine is still standing, more than eleven years after Russia seized Crimea and parts of the Donbas region, and more than three years after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion. But what Ukraine will look like in the future remains the subject of intense negotiations—and continued bloodshed. As the United States pushes diplomatic efforts to end the war, we turned to experts across the Atlantic Council to answer twenty burning questions about what’s happening and what’s next. 1. What is the current state of the battlefield? The battlefield needs to be understood broadly. Most of the commentary on “the battlefield” focuses on Moscow’s monthslong land offensive. The key point, well understood but incomplete, is that Moscow is making very slow, if painful, gains. There have been moments recently when Russian forces moved forward hundreds of meters, especially toward Pokrovsk, a key town in western Donetsk. Moscow has announced for weeks that it would “soon” take the town, but it has not, as Ukraine regained territory north of it and crack Ukrainian troops moved to the area to push the…

Latest Poll Shows Russia & Ukraine Public Ready To End The War; 76% Of ... Share Facebook X WhatsApp ReddIt With U.S. President Donald Trump playing an active role in accordance with his electoral promise of ending the War in Ukraine and American negotiators meeting their Ukrainian and Russian counterparts in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the common people of both warring countries seem ready for an immediate ceasefire that could lead to a peace agreement, if recent opinion polls by respected agencies are any indication. It seems that nearly all Ukrainians are stressed and tired of the three-year-old war.  A recent poll conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, or KIIS, found that nearly 9 in 10 Ukrainians experienced at least one stressful situation in the previous year. Large shares reported stressful experiences related to bombing and shelling (39%), separation from family members (30%), surviving the death of loved ones (26%) and the illness of loved ones (23%). Secondly, as the war has gone on, more and more Ukrainians are more inclined towards negotiations for an end. A recent Gallup Poll showed that 52% preferred that “Ukraine should seek to negotiate an ending to…

Ukraine's falling confidence in US mediation - Brookings Institution Commentary April 29, 2026 When the question of negotiating a settlement of the Russia-Ukraine war arose, the Biden administration held to “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.” U.S. officials would not negotiate with Russian officials over the heads of the Ukrainians. The Trump administration does not appear to share that principle. Its chief Russia-Ukraine negotiator, Steve Witkoff, has traveledto Moscow eight timessince March 2025 but has yet to visit Kyiv. Moreover, questions linger about what the U.S. and Russian leaders agreed to at their August 2025 meeting in Alaska. Trump’s bid to mediate a settlement appears biased toward the Russian side, leading to falling Ukrainian confidence in the U.S. effort to end the war. In recent months, Russian officials have increasingly referred to what they call the “Anchorage understanding,” suggesting that Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin reached a possible agreement to end the war on August 15 last year. It may provide the basis for Russia’s current demands. How much the Trump administration bought into that “understanding” is unclear. Witkoff and Secret…

U.S. Rhetoric Signals Growing Deviation from Ukraine Settlement ... Russia’s envoy to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, told TASS that recent U.S. pronouncements on Ukraine indicate a “clear deviation” from the understandings reached during earlier talks. “The American side is moving away from the consensus that was painstakingly built,” Ulyanov was quoted as saying, without specifying which agreements he referred to. The comments come as diplomatic efforts have languished, with no face-to-face negotiations between the two countries since early 2023. The shift in tone could complicate efforts to renew the Black Sea grain initiative or ease sanctions. Crude oil prices edged higher on the news, with Brent crude rising 0.8% to $82.45 a barrel in early trading, as traders priced in a prolonged conflict. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ulyanov’s remarks follow a series of U.S. statements emphasizing support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, which Moscow views as a hardening of Washington’s stance. Analysts suggest the rhetoric may be part of a pre-negotiation positioning rather than a fundamental policy shift. “…

Trump has finally realised he needs economic and military muscle to ... Old pals act: the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, greets US special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin, August 6 2025. EPA/Gavril Grigorov/Sputnik/Kremlin pool With only two days to go before the expiry of his latest ultimatum to end the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the US president, Donald Trump, dispatched his envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow for the fifth time on August 6. After three hours of talks in the Kremlin between Witkoff and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Trump announced on social media that “Great progress was made!” According to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, this includes a Russian ceasefire proposal that Witkoff is bringing back from his meeting with Putin. At a subsequent press conference, Trump indicated that he could soon meet in person with Putin and his Ukraine counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. However, there was no indication of an imminent breakthrough in the US president’s quest for a ceasefire. While, during a phone call with Zelensky and European leaders, Trump appeared optimistic that a diplomatic solution was possible, he said it would take time. Rubio also ex…

Ukraine and Europe worry about being sidelined as Donald Trump pushes ... FILE – President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, Sept. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File) By Aamer Madhani | Associated Press and Meg Kinnard | Associated Press PUBLISHED: February 16, 2025 at 4:48 PM CST | UPDATED: February 16, 2025 at 4:55 PM CST Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s approach to ending Russia’s war against Ukraine has left European allies and Ukrainian officials worried they are being largely sidelined by the new U.S. administration as Washington and Moscow plan direct negotiations. With the three-year war grinding on, Trump is sending Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff to Saudi Arabia for talks with Russian counterparts, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the upcoming diplomatic efforts and spoke on condition of anonymity. It is unclear to what extent Ukrainian or European officials will be represented in discussions expected to take place in Riyadh in the coming days. …

Saying "no" to NATO—options for Ukrainian neutrality Key points NATO membership for Ukraine is infeasible for a number of reasons, not least questions of defensibility. The alliance and the United States should therefore abandon their public position supporting Ukraine’s eventual membership. Removing NATO membership from the discussion would force Ukraine to focus on more realistic options such as neutrality. In addition to helping decrease tensions with Russia, formal non-alignment would also allow Ukraine to focus on internal challenges, like corruption and economic reform. Ukraine’s ability to manage its external affairs is dictated by its physical location. The challenge for Kyiv is to craft an approach that acknowledges these limits and finds a balance between the contending pulls of east (Russia) and west (Europe). U.S. policy should prioritize the minimization of direct conflict with Russia over Ukraine. The United States has no vital interest in Ukraine that would warrant war with a nuclear power. Defining interests The wounds from the crisis that beset Ukraine in early 2014 remain fresh. Russia has consolidated its hold over Crimea. Meanwhile the Donbas insurgency continu…

The Ukrainian Crisis: ...Transatlantic Unity? | RAS/NSA | Hot Takes Hot Takes February 17, 2022 Time to Read: 19 min While Russia and the United States are in high tension over the imminence of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, the prevention of Russian aggression rests on two pillars on which the West can weigh: diplomacy and deterrence. The West’s prospects in altering Russian calculations are contingent upon the overcoming of its divisions and speak in unison. The very high level of coordination among allies in their responses to Russia is evidence of this imperative. The watchword is clear: unity. Yet, while there is unity in the condemnation of Russian revisionism, differences are discernible among the allies due to domestic political considerations, as well as varying degrees of exposure to the Russian threat and the consequences of a robust response to Russian aggression. Indeed, despite strong solidarity, disparities remain on four critical issues: support for Ukraine’s membership in the Atlantic Alliance, material support for Ukraine, deployment of military contingents on NATO’s eastern front, and support for sanctions against Russia. These fault lines are likely to be furth…

Trump promised Ukraine 'security guarantees': Here's what they could ... On the face of it, talks on Monday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders went well. The U.S. and Ukrainian leaders were pictured looking jovial and smiling together — a far cry from the extraordinary shouting match and public humiliation inflicted on Zelenskyyduring his last trip to the White Housein February. Monday's talks, which involved a raft of European leaders, appeared to make progress toward ending the protracted war between Russia and Ukraine, with Trump saying a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy would be arranged, followed by a trilateral meeting that he would join. The most significant development result for Kyiv and Europe, however, was Trump'sstatementthat security guarantees for Ukraine would be "provided" by European countries in "coordination with the U.S." Describing that as a "major step forward," Zelenskyy said later that the package of security guarantees for Ukraine — highly coveted by Kyiv's leadership and seen as a deterrent to future Russian aggression — will include a massive purchase of A…

Zelensky offers to drop NATO bid in return for security guarantees ... U.S. and Ukraine diplomats held talks at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin on Dec. 14, 2025. (Markus Schreiber / Associated Press) By Stefanie Dazio and Claudia Ciobanu Dec. 14, 2025 Updated 2:04 PM PT 2 6 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X LinkedIn Threads Reddit WhatsApp Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . Ukrainian President Zelensky said he is willing to drop NATO ambitions if the West provides security guarantees, but refuses to cede territory to Russia. Control of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region remains central, with Russia demanding withdrawal and Ukraine insisting that forces stay at current battle lines. U.S. envoys mediate talks as conflicting demands from Russia and Ukraine complicate any path toward a peace deal. BERLIN — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he held talks with …

Trump's Shifting Ukraine Rhetoric Sparks Uncertainty — U.S. peace efforts to end the war in Ukraine have stalled just one week after they began. U.S. President Donald Trump met with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska seven days ago, followed by a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House—seen as an initial step toward brokering a peace agreement to halt hostilities. However, just days after these meetings, the future of such a deal remains uncertain. Trump, who initially claimed he would know more about the possibility of an agreement within two weeks, has now subtly encouraged Ukraine to intensify its aggression against Moscow, signaling a lack of progress in talks. This comes even as Russia continues attacks on Ukrainian regions post-meeting. Just last Monday, August 18, 2025, Trump was confident that his mediation would lead to an end to the conflict. But only days later, on Thursday, he made a sharp rhetorical turn, posting online that Ukraine has no hope of winning without attacking Russia directly: ‘It’s like a team with incredible defense but not allowed to play offense. Interesting things are coming,’ he wrote. This shift reflect…

Can Ukraine regain all the land lost to Russia? Maps ... - The Independent D onald Trump has claimed that Ukraine could win back all of the land captured by Russia since the beginning of its invasion in February 2022, in a major shift in his position on the war. The US president said in a Truth Social post that Kyiv’s military could win “all of Ukraine back in its original form”, adding that Putin and Russia are in “BIG economic trouble”. Military experts say Ukraine could push Russia back towards the border as it stood in 2022, and force Vladimir Putin to seek a peace deal – but only in the presence of a strict, and unlikely, set of conditions. The Independent asked three experts with knowledge of Russia’s military, its economy, and the front line in Ukraine whether Trump’s claim could be realised. open image in gallery Donald Trump’s change of heart followed a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky on the fringes of the UN General Assembly ( AP ) What would it take for Ukraine to drive Russia out? Experts say that in theory, Ukraine has always had the capacity to win back the 13 per cent of its territory seized by Russia since the beginning of the invasion. But in practice, it would re…

Zelenskyy's change of approach towards Russia: From soft touch to ... Since his election as the President of Ukraine in 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Russia policy has been driven by his campaign promise to bring peace to Ukraine. Reaching an agreement with President Vladimir Putin personally was the quintessence of Zelenskyy’s approach to Russia. Zelenskyy’s personal and business past, his lack of political experience, as well as complications in Ukraine-West relations help to explain his Russia policy. Zelenskyy’s approach to Russia was externally unrealistic since Russia wanted him to capitulate rather than negotiate a compromise. It was also domestically divisive since peace at the cost of Ukraine’s concessions on matters of principle was unacceptable to many Ukrainians. The focus on reaching an “understanding” with Moscow gradually weakened Zelenskyy’s political position in Ukraine. In response, he had to toughen his public stance regarding Russia and pro-Russian actors, but the old course was not abandoned completely. The Russian invasion has profoundly transformed Ukrainian society and politics. The President’s policy has become part and parcel of the new national wartime con…

Russia may be 'dragging feet' on achieving peace in Ukraine ... - CNN US President Donald Trump at the White House on March 21, 2025. Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg/Getty Images Russia War in Ukraine Donald Trump Oil & gas See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! Follow US President Donald Trump said he believes Russia wants to end its war with Ukraine, but suggested Moscow could be “dragging their feet” after the Kremlin disputed accounts of agreements made with the US. “I think that Russia wants to see an end to it, but it could be they’re dragging their feet. I’ve done it over the years,” the president told the right-wing cable channel Newsmax in an interview that aired Tuesday night. “I think Russia would like to see it end and I think (Ukraine’s President Volodymyr) Zelensky would like to see it end, at this point,” Trump said. His comments came only hours after Russia said it would only implement a US-brokered deal to stop using force in the Black Sea once some of the sanctions imposed on its banks and exports over its invasion of Ukraine are lifted. Following days of separate negotiations with Ukrainian and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, the White Hous…

Trump Just Gave Putin Everything He Wanted | Washington Monthly Trump’s recent summit with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, ended not in toughness but in capitulation . Despite pledging red lines beforehand, Trump rolled out the red carpet, and has now appeared to endorse Moscow’s demands for the surrender of Ukrainian territory. In this week’s episode of the Washington Monthly politics roundtable, special guest Tamar Jacoby , Director of the New Ukraine Project at the Progressive Policy Institute, shares reaction on the ground in Kyiv to Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine. She also suggests steps Trump should be taking instead to regain the advantage over Putin. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Paul Glastris: On Friday, President Trump had a shameful face-plant of a summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. He then invited Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House today, along with a team of European leaders—including the European commissioner, the head of NATO, and the presidents of France and Germany—who insisted on coming to back Zelensky and try to persuade Trump to take a tougher…

The Unfinished Plan for Peace in Ukraine: Provision by ... - CSIS Photo: Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu/Getty Images Report byMark F. CancianandMaria Snegovaya Published November 24, 2025 On November 19, reports leaked that the United States and Russiahad negotiated an agreementto end the war in Ukraine. President Trump is nowpressuring Ukraineto sign the agreement, but reactions from members of Congress, Europeans, Ukrainians, and commentators have been scathing, calling the plan pro-Russian. Further, the plan has so many loose ends, inconsistencies, and unsubstantiated assumptions that implementation is impossible as written. This is not an agreement, but may be a starting point to get to an agreement. Indeed, the Europeans have put forththeir own versionof the 28 points while also circulating a previously drafted 24-point proposal. This European version is less pro-Russian, and might be closer to something both sides could agree to. There reportedly is now a 19-point proposal drafted by the United States and Ukraine. This white paper describes the U.S. plan’s uncertain parentage, responses to the plan, compares it with a 2022 attempt at an agreem…

Trump said he'd end Ukraine war in a single day. Is peace close? POLITICS Donald Trump Add Topic Trump's Ukraine peace deal stalled as bloody war hits 4-year mark Experts say Vladimir Putin has convinced Trump and U.S. negotiators that he wants to cut a deal – even as Moscow rains missiles and drones on Ukrainian cities. Francesca Chambers USA TODAY Updated Feb. 23, 2026, 4:02 p.m. ET Hear this story WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has taken extraordinary action when it comes to confronting authoritarians in places like Venezuela, where U.S. forces captured leader Nicolas Maduro, and Iran, where he bombed nuclear sites in June and is now threatening a new attack. But there’s one strongman Trump has consistently refused to accost: Russian President Vladimir Putin , whose intellect and iron grip the former reality TV star has long admired. The Russian leader has convinced Trump and U.S. negotiators, including presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, that he wants to cut a deal to end his long war – even as Moscow rains missiles and drones on Ukrainian cities, cutting heat, water and power to thousands. The war that Trump repeatedly swore he could end in a single day is now 4 years old,…

Trump wants the war to end. But Putin wants much more than that - CNN Photo Illustration by Jason Lancaster/CNN/Getty Images Russia Donald Trump War in Ukraine See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! Follow US President Donald Trump said he thinks Vladimir Putin wants peace. Ukraine and its European allies don’t believe he does, while the Russian leader himself said he wants peace but then refused to sign up to it when presented with the option. What Putin really wants, though, is much, much bigger. The Russian president has made no secret of the fact that he believes Ukraine should not exist as an independent state and he has repeatedly said he wants NATO to shrink back to its Cold War-era size. But more than anything, he wants to see a new global order — and he wants Russia to play the starring role in it. A building burngs in Odesa on Friday, in a photo supplied by emergency services. State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Odesa region/Reuters Ukraine port city ‘on fire’ after ‘massive’ Russian attack as Trump projects optimism ahead of peace talks Putin and several of his most trusted allies emerged from the remnants of the KGB, the Soviet-era intelligence…

'Difficult' talks in Geneva — Zelensky signals progress on ceasefire ... Politics 'Difficult' talks in Geneva — Zelensky signals progress on ceasefire, political stalemate continues February 18, 2026 11:02 am (Updated: February 18, 2026 11:08 pm ) • 5 min read Prefer on Google by Tim Zadorozhnyy Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. hold peace talks in Geneva on Feb. 17, 2026. (Rustem Umerov / Telegram) Ukraine and Russia held the second day of U.S.-mediated trilateral talks in Geneva on Feb. 18, with territorial arrangements, energy security, and control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant at the center of negotiations. The meeting lasted about two hours, with Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky calling it "difficult but practical" and saying the next session is expected "soon." National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov said discussions were taking place in working groups divided between political and military tracks. After the talks, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces are now ready to monitor a ceasefire, should there be the political will to enforce it. "They have basically agreed on almost everything," he added, noting that monitoring wou…

Why Trump's Ukraine Peace Efforts Keep Failing - The Atlantic Listen − 1.0 x + Seek 0:00 8:52 Donald Trump is clearly frustrated with his failure to end the Russia-Ukraine war. He thought he could strike a deal with a simple transaction that recognized Russia’s territorial gains and appealed to its economic interests. He did not understand how committed Vladimir Putin was to the destruction of an independent Ukrainian state, or how difficult it would be to compel him to accept anything less. Recently President Trump tried to change the dynamic: He told Putin he might give Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles, and he tried to berate Volodymyr Zelensky into conceding territory, but both to no avail. Trump canceled a planned summit with Putin, explaining to reporters, “We’re going to have to know that we’re going to make a deal. I’m not going to be wasting my time. I’ve always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing.” To hear senior Trump-administration officials tell it , they are very close to settling the war, if only the parties would be reasonable. They appear to view the fundamental conflict as simple and susceptible to compromise: Rus…

Why Trump Changed His Mind on Ukraine - The Atlantic Listen − 1.0 x + Seek 0:00 7:53 Sign up for National Security , a newsletter featuring coverage of rising authoritarianism, military intelligence, and geopolitical conflicts. Today, President Donald Trump threw one of the most important tenets of his own foreign policy into a 180-degree turn, reversing course without even slowing down. Trump has always been overly deferential to Vladimir Putin, including enabling the Russian president’s war in Ukraine. Now Trump appears to be signaling that he’s fed up with the Kremlin. But is he? Trump’s latest policy reversal came after he spoke to the United Nations General Assembly for nearly an hour today. His speech was classic Trump: full of grievance, inappropriate references to American political feuds, embarrassing moments of self-promotion, detours into odd tangents, and claims that everyone in the world but him is stupid. Trump seemed irritated with everyone, including Putin, for depriving him of the Nobel Peace Prize he thinks he deserves—an oversight he whined about to the UN audience. The diplomats in attendance could be forgiven if they didn’t take any of it seriously. After his …

Macron Rejects Trump's Peace Plan as Is, Backs Assurance Forces for ... US President Donald Trump’s peace plan requires significant revisions before it can be acceptable to Ukraine and Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron told RTL radio on November 25. The 28-point proposal unveiled last week surprised officials in Washington, Kyiv, and across Europe, raising concerns that the Trump administration may be prepared to pressure Ukraine into accepting terms largely aligned with Moscow’s interests. We bring you stories from the ground. Your support keeps our team in the field. DONATE NOW “It’s an initiative that goes in the right direction: towards peace. However, there are aspects of that plan that deserve to be discussed, negotiated, improved,” Macron said. “We want peace, but we don’t want peace that is effectively a capitulation.” He stressed that decisions on any territorial compromises rest solely with Ukraine. “What was put on the table gives us an idea of what would be acceptable to the Russians. Does that mean that it is what must be accepted by the Ukrainians and the Europeans? The answer is no,” Macron added. Read more Category War in Ukraine Five Russian Superweapons Th…

The Carrot-Stick Approach to Ending the War in Ukraine Council on Foreign Relations Share By experts and staff Published July 1, 2025 8:55 a.m. Charles A. Kupchan CFR Expert Senior Fellow Share Charles A. Kupchan is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University. This Ukraine Policy Brief is part of the Council Special Initiative on Securing Ukraine’s Future and the Wachenheim Program on Peace and Security . Executive Summary President Donald Trump is right to launch a diplomatic effort to end the war in Ukraine. Ukraine has virtually no prospect of defeating Russian forces and restoring its territorial integrity. Yet Trump has made no progress, and Russian forces continue to conquer additional Ukrainian territory. If Trump is to deliver on his promise to end the war in Ukraine, he will need to offer the Kremlin inducements: the prospect of improved relations with the United States and reassurance that Ukraine will not join NATO if and when Russia ceases its aggression. But Trump will also need to impose greater costs on Russia for continuing its war of aggression. The United States and its European allies will …

Trump administration's 28-point Ukraine-Russia peace plan presented to ... The plan includes items that could be painful for Ukraine to accept. The Trump administration's 28-point draft proposal to finally end Russia's invasion into Ukraine would require Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government to make significant concessions -- but also includes NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine, according to a senior U.S. official. The plan, which is still a draft and could change, was presented in Kyiv earlier Thursday. The plan was drafted by Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff with input from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the White House press secretary and a senior U.S. administration official confirmed Thursday. The plan would force Kyiv to give up additional territory in the east, cap the size of its military and agree it will never join NATO, among a number of other items that will be painful for the war-torn country to swallow. Even though the Trump administration plan calls for significant concessions from Ukraine, one of the security guarantees that will be provided to Ukraine is modeled on the principles of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. Under the proposed…

Ukraine: another week of diplomatic wrangling leaves Kyiv short of ... Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the European council meeting in Belgium, October 23. EPA/Olivier Matthys Following another week of diplomatic flip-flopping in the United States, Ukraine’s European allies did not disappoint when it came to the fulsomeness of their diplomatic rhetoric. Yet concrete action to strengthen the capabilities Ukraine needs to win the war remained at a snail’s pace. After a less than successful meeting in the White House on October 17 between the American and Ukrainian presidents, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine and its European allies once again scrambled to respond to US equivocation with public affirmations of support for Kyiv. A meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday October 20, a summit of EU leaders on Thursday October 23, and a gathering of the coalition of the willing on Friday October 24, provided plenty of opportunities for such statements. For good measure, the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, paid a visit to Washington on October 21 and 22 before joining the leaders of the coalition of the willing on Friday. The core message from all these meeti…

Welcome to Trump and Putin's Brave New World - The Moscow Times By Ruth Deyermond Feb. 20, 2025 U.S. President Donald Trump. The White House This has been the week when everything changed. From U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth’s comments about NATO and Ukraine, through Vice President J.D. Vance’s explosive speech to the Munich Security Conference, to Tuesday’s U.S.-Russia talks and President Donald Trump’s press conference, the new U.S. administration has signaled the most dramatic reorientation of American foreign policy since the Second World War. Trump’s desire to disengage from NATO and develop good relations with the Kremlin was obvious during his first presidency. But he was unable to do either. In his second term, he is surrounded by individuals who share these views — most importantly, Elon Musk — and by others, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who have been willing to pivot away from their previous views on the need to oppose Russia and support Ukraine. The Trump administration has made it clear that they see the NATO alliance as a burden, not a strength, that values no longer connect the U.S. and Europe, and that, in any case, values are less important than hard pow…

Donbas-for-peace offer raises fears of more war, nuclear spread KYIV, Ukraine — The price of U.S. security guarantees to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine became explicit this week: Kyiv must give up all of Donbas — about 10% of its territory, or about 15% of its prewar GDP. The United States has asked Ukraine to withdraw from all of the eastern region — including areas it has held during more than 14 years of Russian attacks — before it will finalize the long-term protections it has been discussing with Kyiv for months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing the negotiation in comments to Reuters . The demand followed bilateral talks in Florida with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner last weekend that Zelenskyy said produced no real progress , a sharper assessment than his earlier claim that the guarantees were “100% ready.” Just three weeks earlier, Zelenskyy tried to close the door on the central trade-off in the talks. Ukraine would “never leave Donbas and the 200,000 Ukrainians who live there,” he told Corriere della Sera . But the battlefield did not slow down to match the diplomacy. Ukraine seized more ground in a F…

Trump's heated White House meeting with Zelensky shows how well Putin ... On-again, off-again relatonship: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky. Press service of the president of Ukraine Within 24 hours last week Donald Trump performed yet another pivot in his approach to the Russian war against Ukraine. It’s become a familiar pattern of behaviour with the US president. First he expresses anger and frustration with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Then he threatens severe consequences. And finally – usually after some contact with the Russian president – he finds some imaginary silver lining that, in his considered view alone, justifies backing down and essentially dancing to the Russian dictator’s tune again. The latest iteration of his by now very predictable sequence of events has unfolded as follows. Back in September, while he was still busy pushing his ultimately unsuccessful campaign to be awarded the Nobel peace prize, the US president began to envisage a Ukrainian victory against Russia. This, he said, would involve Kyiv reclaiming all territory lost to Russia’s aggression since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. To make this happen, there was suddenly talk …

Vladimir Putin's Twofold Revenge - European Security The collusion, not to say complicity, between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in ousting Volodymir Zelensky and carving up Ukraine in the name of a Russian “ peace ” is undoubtedly Washington’s best-kept secret. How has the United States of America been able to dismantle, in the space of four weeks, an exemplary security architecture and a transatlantic bond that had lasted 80 years? Trump’s America is in the process of carrying out a revolution inspired by the Putin model. For Françoise Thom, “ Trump and Vance have become the instruments of Zelensky’s political assassination. Ukraine publicly abandoned by its main ally from across the Atlantic, in the presence of a Russian journalist no less: this spectacle allows Moscow to hope to proceed to the second phase of its plan, the installation of a “pacifist” collaborator in power in Kyïv… The Putinization of America is the realization of a plan nurtured by Russian leaders since the mid-1990s .” by Françoise Thom — Desk Russie — Paris, le 3 mars 2025 — Most observers agree that the flogging of President Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28 was not the result of an impromptu cl…

Experts React: What's at Stake in the Trump-Putin Alaska Meeting - CSIS Photo: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images Commentary bySeth G. Jones,Eliot A. Cohen,Maria Snegovaya,Mark F. Cancian,andBenjamin Jensen Published August 11, 2025 As U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepare to meet this Friday at a summit in Alaska, questions arise over the potential agenda and implications for the war in Ukraine. With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky currently expected to be absent from the talks, concerns have emerged about the scope of any possible agreements, the role of Ukraine’s allies, and the durability of any negotiated settlement. CSIS experts weigh in on the political, military, and diplomatic stakes surrounding the meeting. The Hard Truth About Ukraine Peace Talks | Seth G. Jones Too Much Uncertainty to Make a Final Judgement on the Trump–Putin Meeting | Eliot A. Cohen Trump–Putin Meeting Highlights Diplomatic Gains for Russia Despite Unresolved Ukraine Issues | Maria Snegnovaya Ukraine’s Perilous Military Condition | Mark F. Cancian More than a Map: Why Territory Swaps Are Insufficient to End the War | Benjamin Jensen Tru…

The Misunderstood Proposal: Four Different Versions of Putin's Peace ... As European Leaders Reject Russian Demands and Present Counter-Proposal, Confusion Reigns Over Exact Terms of Moscow’s Ceasefire Offer Ahead of August 15 Alaska Summit Summary of the Day – August 9, 2025 A diplomatic fog descended over Washington as the Trump Administration described Vladimir Putin’s ceasefire demands in four contradictory ways since August 6, revealing fundamental confusion about Russia’s actual negotiating position. German outlet BILD exposed that U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff misunderstood Putin’s demands during their August 6 meeting, interpreting Russian territorial demands as offers for Russian withdrawal. While Ukrainian and European officials united to reject Putin’s territorial demands and present their own counter-proposal during meetings in the United Kingdom, Trump failed to impose promised sanctions despite missing his August 8 deadline. As European leaders issued stark warnings that “the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukrainians,” Ukraine continued its strategic drone campaign with devastating strikes against Russian infrastructure, while civilian casualties moun…

'Can't wear rose-tinted glasses…': Big setback for Trump, Russia says ... In a major setback to US President Donald Trump’s efforts, Kremlin on Friday said that peace talks with Ukraine are on hold as of now, and it blamed European countries for hindering the process. In a statement, Moscow said there was a pause on negotiations, adding that, “the fact that the Europeans are hindering this is indeed true. This is not a secret to anyone.” “Our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through channels. But for now, it is probably more accurate to talk about a pause. You can’t wear rose-tinted glasses and expect that the negotiation process will yield immediate results,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said as per AFP. According to Reuters, the negotiators from bothRussia and Ukrainehave held three rounds of direct talks this year in Istanbul, most recently on July 23. During these talks, they made some progress as they agreed to return prisoners of war and the bodies of the dead. But they have not made any assurances on a possible peace deal. In the fresh statement, Russia has accused Kyiv of not recognising what it calls “the realities on the ground”, while Ukraine has ma…

The US Peace Plan for Ukraine: An Analysis of Kiev's Positions The conflict in Ukraine represents a crucial issue for the stability of Europe and the entire international community. Recently, talks were held in Geneva to discuss a plan in 28 points , proposed by the United States, aimed at ending the war. During these meetings, the Ukrainian delegation had the opportunity to express its needs and requests, seeking to ensure that national interests were respected. Reflections on negotiations Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's chief negotiator and current secretary of the National Security Council, said that the new draft of the US plan integrates most of the strategic priorities from Kiev. This change was welcomed, as it highlights greater American openness to listening to Ukrainian needs. Umerov expressed appreciation for the constructive cooperation with the United States, stressing that this approach is crucial to progress in the peace process. Kiev's positions Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced through social media positive signals regarding the inclusion of representative elements of the Ukrainian perspectives This development is particularly significant, as the first vers…

Trump's rhetoric on Ukraine changes, while his actions so far remain ... Add NBC News to Google Trump signals shift on Ukraine after blunt speech criticizing the U.N. 02:58 Get more news Live on Share Add NBC News to Google Sept. 24, 2025, 5:17 PM EDT By Peter Nicholas and Dan De Luce WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is suddenly bullish when it comes to Ukraine’s chances of repelling Russia’s invasion and regaining all its territory, yet the shift in rhetoric means little unless he is prepared to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin, diplomats and foreign officials say. Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscription Get exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading. Thus far, Trump hasn’t taken these essential steps, they added. Trump’s social media post Tuesday upended the conventional thinking about his view of the war, now in its fourth year. Back in February, he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he didn’t have the “cards” in a peace negotiation and that his country was in “big trouble.” Now, Trump says that Russia is the one that is in “ big economic trouble ” and that its failure to swiftly conquer its smaller neighbor has revealed it to be a “paper tiger.…

Why Americans will eventually sour on the war on Ukraine (but not soon) Policy alert Handout photo shows United States President Joe Biden greeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine at the White House in Washington, DC, USA Image by picture alliance / abaca | ABACA © Listen Pause Stop Print Share LinkedIn Bluesky Tweet Instagram WhatsApp The war in Ukraine is going badly. The Ukrainian summer offensive has not lived up to its promise and the war seems to have settled into a long battle of attrition. Robert Fico’s pro-Russia party won in Slovakia’s parliamentary election on a promise to send “ not a single round ” to Ukraine. The Republicans in the United States Congress stymied the Biden administration’s effort to secure more military assistance for Ukraine. Western weapons production is struggling to keep up with a fully mobilised Russian war economy. This run of bad news has led to speculation that support in the US for Ukraine will soften. It will, but the process will take much longer than the headlines fear. The response Pro-war politicians and pundits usually respond to this dilemma by channelling Winston Churchill. They seek through inspiring rhetoric to inform the A…

Ukraine hits limits of patience with Trump as ... - The Kyiv Independent How Zelensky ran out of patience with Trump — and what it means for US-Ukraine relations by Tim Zadorozhnyy April 30, 2026 8:18 PM 8 min read President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome, Italy, on April 15, 2026. (Isabella Bonotto/Anadolu/Getty Images) Politics Prefer on Google by Tim Zadorozhnyy In just two months, President Volodymyr Zelensky shifted from being the first world leader to back a U.S. military operation in the Middle East to openly criticizing Washington's foreign policy. The noticeable change of tone came at a moment when Ukraine and the U.S. have once again reached a difficult impasse in bilateral relations, with Washington consumed by its war against Iran and the fragile diplomacy surrounding a possible settlement. Washington's public messaging, weapons uncertainty, and what Ukrainian officials describe as broken promises are fueling frustration in Kyiv, according to three people familiar with the matter. "It's clear who we're dealing with… there are objectively difficult situations that don't foster a positive atmosphere," one senior Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent. While officials s…

Kiel Institute: Sharp Decrease in Western Support For Ukraine in July ... Europe Ukraine / East - West Kiel Institute: Sharp Decrease in Western Support For Ukraine in July, August October 15, 2025 Share Facebook X Pinterest WhatsApp by Kyle Anzalone Oct 14, 2025 A new report from the Kiel Institute reveals a significant decline in military aid to Ukraine during July and August. Under President Donald Trump, the US has halted military assistance to Ukraine, and European support for Kiev has dipped. “After the US stopped announcing new aid packages at the beginning of 2025, European countries stepped in and significantly expanded their military support,” the Kiel Institute explained . “However, this momentum collapsed in the summer: military allocations from European countries fell by 57 percent compared to January–June 2025.” President Donald Trump has criticized Joe Biden’s policy of providing Ukraine with over $100 billion in aid. The President has cut arms transfer to Ukraine, but has encouraged Europe to buy American weapons for Kiev. Most of the military aid going to Ukraine is now through the NATO PURL initiative. Under the program, European countries fund US arms sales to U…

Can Trump Persuade Putin to Make Peace in Ukraine? - CSIS Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images Commentary bySean Monaghan Published January 29, 2025 As a presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump promised to end Europe’s largest war since 1945 inone day. This was always ambitious. Since taking office, President Trump and his advisers have already admitted a deal could bemonthsaway. Last week, Trump kickstarted the process of getting to the negotiating table with athreatof more tariffs and sanctions if Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, did not stop his “ridiculous war.” As hewarned: “We can do it the easy way, or the hard way . . . It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL’.” Trump missed out on the “deal of the century” for Middle East peace in his first term. Helping secure peace in Ukraine would strengthen his case for the Nobel Peace Prize that he socovets. But ending the war in Ukraine is not like closing a business deal. Negotiating with Putin will require a large dose of coercive diplomacy. The book Trump’s team should be reading to help them prepare for negotiations is not hisArt of the Deal, butForceful Persuasion: Coercive Diplomacy as an Alternative to Wa…

Ukraine security guarantees are futile without increased pressure on Putin Kyiv’s allies hailed progress toward “ robust ” security guarantees for Ukraine on January 6 following a meeting in Paris attended by representatives of more than thirty countries who together make up the Coalition of the Willing. As details of a possible security framework for postwar Ukraine continue to take shape, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron signed a joint declaration committing to deploy troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv. Crucially, US officials attending the talks in France also voiced American backing for security guarantees, with the United States expected to play a supporting role that will focus on ceasefire monitoring. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the “substantive discussions” and suggested that he was now more confident about the credibility of the security commitments being proposed by Ukraine’s partners. “Military officials from France, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine worked in detail on force deployment, numbers, specific types of weapons, and the components of the armed forces required an…

Western leaders must abandon false hopes of negotiated peace with Putin For more than twelve years, Ukraine has been defending itself against an escalating Russian invasion that seeks to erase the Ukrainian state from the map of Europe and overturn the existing world order. So far, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has been unable to defeat Ukraine on the battlefield or break the Ukrainian nation’s resistance. Despite this lack of progress, however, he shows no sign of compromising on his maximalist goals . Many in the West are still in denial over the scale of the threat posed by Putin’s Russia and continue to believe a negotiated settlement is the only realistic option to end the war. This is dangerously delusional. In reality, attempting to make deals with Putin today is as shortsighted as seeking to bargain with Adolf Hitler at the height of World War II. In the 1940s, the allies rejected that idea because they recognized Hitler would never stop and had to be defeated. There is a desperate need for such clarity today. For the past year, Putin has sabotaged US-led peace talks with endless stalling tactics and diplomatic distractions. It should now be obvious that the Russian rule…

Camera Icon Ukraine has been warding off a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP Trump optimistic Ukraine war can end after Putin call Staff Writers Reuters 7 July 2026, 1:51am Copy link Share story US President Donald Trump has expressed optimism on progress in bringing the war in Ukraine to an end following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said talks to end the war were "getting much closer than people realise". "And President Putin wants it to end. I will tell you that very strongly. Good call, and President Zelenskiy actually wants it to end now," he said in reference to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during an event at the White House. "I had a very good call, and I think ... we're getting close to getting it done," Trump said. Speaking ahead of a NATO summit starting in Ankara on Tuesday, Trump said: "And we're going to be going to NATO and we're going to be talking about it and we, I think, we're going to get it. I think we're going to get it ended." The Kremlin said on Monday that Putin and Trump had agreed in a weekend call that they would talk again "in the near future," suggesting they are likely to talk…

Russia's reckoning is coming - Engelsberg ideas Essays Beyond the bluster of his meeting with President Trump, Vladimir Putin is in trouble. Isolated, outmanoeuvred, and stalled on the battlefield, Russia is tottering financially and militarily, while Zelensky's Ukraine continues to hold the upper hand. Summits have become the common currency of international diplomacy. Think ofKennedy and Khrushchev at Viennain 1961; Nixon and Mao Zedong in China, 1972; Reagan and Gorbachev in Reykjavik, 1986; or Trump and Kim Jong-Un at Singapore in 2018. In between, key meetings of NATO, the G7, EU, WEF, OPEC, the Commonwealth, or of BRICS Western-sceptic nations have also rejoiced under the moniker of summits. The ease of long-haul air travel means there are many more gatherings of these alphabet soups than there used to be, butWinston Churchill,with his sense of history, was aware they were nothing new. He wrote about the Congress of Vienna, that ran from September 1814 to June 1815, attended in person the January to June 1919 peace negotiations at Versailles, and organised keyencounters with Roosevelt and Stalinbetween 1941 and 1945. The more significant they are to the world, the more s…

Ukraine is under pressure to trade land for peace − if it does, history ... An elderly Ukrainian walks through the rubble following a Russian aerial bomb strike in Donetsk Oblast. Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images Asked in December 2025 what the biggest sticking point was in negotiating peace in Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump got straight to the point : land. “Some of that land has been taken. Some of that land is maybe up for grabs,” he added. From the very beginning of the full-scale war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out ceding territory to the invading Russians. Yet, when the war in Ukraine finally grinds to a halt, it seems likely that Russia will, indeed, control vast portions of Ukrainian land in the south and the east – about 20% of Ukraine’s pre-2014 landmass, if today’s line of actual control is any guide. Ukrainians have spent years trying to eject Russian forces from occupied areas in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson administrative regions. Captured and fortified by Russia in 2014, Crimea has been mostly out of reach. But despite Kyiv’s best efforts, Russia is now poised to seize even more Ukrainian territory if the …

Impasse at the Kremlin: here's what we know after the latest US‑Russia ... Kremlin talks were unable to make any significant progress towards a peace deal in Ukraine. Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP Once again there is an impasse in the attempts to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. A five-hour meeting in the Kremlin between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the US team led by Donald Trump’s envoys, businessmen Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, has failed to make any significant progress . Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov described the talks, held on December 2, as “constructive”. But, tellingly, he added that “some American proposals appear more or less acceptable”. This was clearly a reference to the 28-point plan drawn up in late November by Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s direct investment fund. This plan drew strong criticism from both Ukrainian and European leaders as it appeared to favour Russia , calling for Ukraine to give up territory, banning it from ever joining Nato and restricting the size of its armed forces. The UK, France and Germany met in Geneva on November 22 and developed a counterproposal providing for a larger Ukrain…

Europe rages at Trump over plan to recognize seized Ukrainian land ByELINA SHIRAZI, US SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER Published:12:03 EDT, 28 November 2025|Updated:16:31 EDT, 28 November 2025 670 Viewcomments One of the most consequential bargaining chips in the Russia–Ukraine war, the fate of contested territory, may beshifting. A report now suggests that the United States is prepared to recognizeRussia's control over Crimea and other occupied Ukrainian regions as part of a potential deal to bring the conflict to an end. A source tells the Daily Telegraph that President Trump has sent his envoy, Steve Witkoff, and unofficial negotiator, son–in–lawJared Kushner, to make an offer for peace toPutin, traveling toMoscowfor the meeting. The high–wire talks come just asZelensky's top aide departed from his post hours after authorities searched his home and his office - the result of a corruption probe he was involved in. Zelensky announced the news casually between other details regarding Ukraine's status updates in the renewed peace efforts. All this is moving forward, despite concerns about Ukraine expressed in European circles. 'It's increasingly clear the Americans don't care a…

Fact check: 78 times Zelensky has expressed gratitude to the US - CNN Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a virtual address to the USCongress, at the US Capitol on March 16, 2022. During the address, Zelensky expressed his gratitude toward the US for its support in the war against Russia. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/File Donald Trump Congressional news Joe Biden Russia See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! Follow President Donald Trump claimed on social media on Sunday that “UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS” in relation to the war there. Trump’s claim is not even close to accurate. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed gratitude to the United States on dozens of occasions – 78 examples are listed below – since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of his country in early 2022. And Zelensky has repeatedly expressed gratitude to Trump personally since Trump was elected again last fall. Zelensky has said it on social media, sometimes tagging Trump’s account. He has said it to Trump face-to-face. He has said it to Trump appointees and members of Congress. He has said it in Ukraine, in the US, and in ot…

Security guarantees for Ukraine explained: What's on the table and what ... Security guarantees for Ukraine explained: What's on the table and what's realistic? by Oleg Sukhov, Andrea Januta August 19, 2025 7:13 PM 7 min read U.S. President Donald Trump (R) walks with President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and European leaders into the Cross Hall at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 18, 2025. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images) War Prefer on Google by Oleg Sukhov, Andrea Januta As peace talks to end the war in Ukraine gather speed toward a potential trilateral meeting between the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia, the question of what kind of security guarantees Kyiv might receive continues to loom over the flurry of diplomatic meetings. After President Volodymyr Zelensky's Aug. 18 appearance at the White House , European leaders are now expected to draft a skeleton proposal for security guarantees over the next week, according to Kyiv Independent sources . The proposal will examine what Ukraine's allies are willing to commit to in order to prevent future attacks if a ceasefire or peace deal is reached. In response to questions from reporters about security guarant…

Russia, Ukraine and US hold 1st trilateral talks since start of war Zelenskyy said in an evening address it's "still too early to draw conclusions." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday it is "still too early to draw conclusions" fromthe trilateral talkstaking place between Ukraine, Russia and the United States. Delegations from the three countries were in the United Arab Emirates this week for what officials say is first trilateral meeting since Russia launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine almost four years ago in February 2022. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday released an image from the trilateral talks, saying talks were "very constructive" and would continue next week. "President Trump and his entire team are dedicated to bringing peace to this war," Witkoffsaid on X. "They are talking about the parameters of ending the war," Zelenskyy said Friday in his daily evening address as hundreds of thousands in Kyiv remain without power due to Russia's relentless attacks. The talks in Abu Dhabi are at a technical level and do not include heads of state but is still a notable diplomatic engagement amid the ongoing fighting. U.S. Army Secretary Dan …

Ukraine's New U.S. Ambassador Olha Stefanishyna on Her Approach to ... Interview Ukraine’s New U.S. Ambassador Previews Her Pragmatic Approach to Washington “I am Ukrainian, right? I’m not a Democrat or Republican.” By Sam Skove , a staff writer at Foreign Policy . A blond woman in a black suit sits behind a sign with her last name on it. The EU flag is seen behind her. Olha Stefanishyna, then-Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, speaks during a press conference in Vienna on Nov. 23, 2023. Helmut Fohringer/APA/AFP via Getty Images Foreign & Public Diplomacy Military United States Russia Ukraine November 4, 2025, 10:53 AM Russia’s War in Ukraine Understanding the conflict four years on. More on this topic Welcome to FP Free Week. To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, our entire site is completely unlocked this week only. Enjoy the article. Ukraine’s new ambassador to the United States has trouble falling asleep. Olha Stefanishyna, a 40-year-old from Odesa, Ukraine, is kept awake at night by the distant rumble of passenger planes flying above her house in a quiet corner of Washington, D.C. It’s a sound so common that most residents tune it out…

Zelenskyy open to dropping NATO bid for Western security guarantees ... The chancellory is pictured during talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP) Jared Kushner, entrepreneur and former chief adviser to President Donald Trump, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP) ADDS FIRST NAME FRIEDRICH - Ukraine’s Secretary of National Security Rustem Umerov, right, and Günter Sautter, Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) In this image made from a video provided by the Press Service of the President of Ukraine on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy records a video at the entrance of a road in Kupiansk, Ukraine. (Press Service of the President of Ukraine, via AP) BERLIN (AP) — Ukrainian…

Four years on, the Ukraine-Russia war has transformed conflict and ... Video Ad Feedback Four ways Ukraine changed America’s wars forever 5:12 • Source: CNN Four ways Ukraine changed America’s wars forever 5:12 Russia War in Ukraine National security Donald Trump See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! Follow Four years of war in Ukraine has brought seismic evolution to the world – to the nature of warfare, the balance of global powers, and to European security. For Ukraine, the war has been a curse – a curse to survive and adapt long enough to spare Europe’s borders from Russia’s forces and absolve its allies from springing into greater action. Kyiv is paying the price of the upheaval with constant churn and relentless loss, Ukrainians told me. “Some of us are still positive, but just because there is no other option,” texted a military intelligence officer. It is the Ukrainians in this fight who wish most urgently the war would really end tomorrow. It is a cruel paradox: Many in the West also wish the war would stop, because of its cost to their defense budgets and heating bills. Yet it is the West’s lack of spending – of material support for Kyiv – that ha…

Europe Races to Repair a Split Between the U.S. and Ukraine European leaders scrambled on Sunday to salvage Ukraine’s relationship with the United States, aftera bitter rupturelast week between President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Trump. They pledged to assemble a European “coalition of the willing” to develop a plan for ending Ukraine’s war with Russia, which they hope could win the backing of a skeptical Mr. Trump. Gathering in London at the invitation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, the leaders vowed to bolster support for Ukraine. But they also expressed hope that Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump could repair their breach, underscoring Europe’s reluctance to cast off a trans-Atlantic alliance that has kept the peace for 80 years. “We have to bridge this,” Mr. Starmer said on Sunday to the BBC before the leaders began arriving at Lancaster House, near Buckingham Palace. “We have to find a way where we can all work together.” Mr. Starmer said he believed that despite Mr. Trump’s anger toward Mr. Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday, the president was committed to a lasting peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. He said Britain and France, working with otherEu…

The Evolution of the White House's Approach to the War in Ukraine: From ... Posted in Conflict National Security June 4, 2026 Recent remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mark a significant shift in the White House’s approach toward the war in Ukraine. Rubio’s statement that Russia “cannot achieve its negotiating goals through military means” represents a departure from earlier assumptions within the Trump administration that Moscow retained substantial leverage and that a rapid negotiated settlement was achievable. The evolution of U.S. policy since January 2025 can be divided into three distinct phases: Rapid Deal-Making Phase (January–March 2025) Testing Moscow’s Intentions Phase (Spring 2025–Early 2026) Strategic Realism Phase (June 2026–Present) Rubio’s latest statement suggests that the White House is increasingly concluding that Russia lacks the military capacity to impose its maximalist demands and that the war is unlikely to end on terms dictated solely by the Kremlin . This does not necessarily indicate a return to the Biden-era strategy but rather the emergence of a more pragmatic position recognizing battlefield realities. Rubio’s Statement as a Strategic Indi…

Russia Refuses to Make Meaningful Step on Road to Peace Posted Tuesday, 11 Mar 2025 by Pavel K. Baev U.S., European, and Ukrainian peace-making policies are now aligned at a possible breakthrough point, as differences in means and methods transmute into complementarities. This fast evolution starkly contrasts with the immobility of Russia’s position. This resolve, so long as it exists, prohibits any discussion of possible compromises for peace (seeStrategic Snapshot, February 24). Russian President Vladimir Putin declares readiness to end the war, but uses every occasion to assert that no concessions are under consideration. Putin’s most recent effort at this was when meeting with women of the foundation, “Defenders of the Fatherland.” During the meeting, Putin claimed, “We do not need what is not ours, but we will not give up what is ours. We need an option that ensures the stable development of our country in terms of peace and security” (Kremlin.ru;Meduza, March 6). This insistence on a peace arrangement that would fully conform with Russia’s interests, and essentially amount to a victory, clashes with U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance on the peace deal (RBC, March 2). I…

The Donbas Is a Fortress Ukraine Cannot Afford to Give Up Ukraine War Map. Image Credit: Creative Commons. Key Points and Summary – As the Trump administration pushes for a quick peace deal, ceding the remaining Ukrainian-held territories in the Donbas would be a strategic catastrophe for Kyiv. -This region is not merely land but a heavily fortified fortress, including key strongholds like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, which have allowed Ukraine to inflict massive casualties on advancing Russian forces. -Surrendering these critical defensive lines would not only be politically suicidal for President Zelenskyy. -Still, it would also hand Moscow a perfect launching pad for a future invasion, repeating a historical pattern of broken peace deals. The Donbas Region is a Fortress Kyiv Cannot Cede to Moscow Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its eleventh year with three full years of full-scale war , has seen Russia fail to achieve its key objectives . Ukraine has not been landlocked, nor have Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, or Luhansk been fully captured. Volodymyr Zelensky remains as Ukrainian President, and Russia has suffered over one million casualties, with the Black Sea Fleet decima…

Trump's latest line on Ukraine isn't a 'shift,' it's a hand-off The president's rhetoric may have changed, but the substance largely remains: The US pulling back while Europe inherits the risk U.S. President Donald Trump’srhetorical shifton Ukraine isn’t a call to arms. But it’s a dangerous attempt to outsource escalation toEurope. And it’s a strategy that could easily reverse again.Trump’s recent socialmediapronouncementon Ukraine, following hismeetingwith President Volodymyr Zelensky, appears to be a stunning about-face. Just days ago, the core of his “peace plans” was the grim realpolitik of forcing Kyiv to accept territorial losses. Now, he declaresRussiaa “paper tiger” and seems to endorse fighting to Ukraine’s “final victory”, including “winning back” all the territories it lost to Russia since 2014.But a closer look reveals this isn’t a genuine shift toward a hawkish policy. Instead, it’s the unveiling of a profoundly dangerous strategy. To understand it, we must see it as the outcome of a successfulinfluence campaignby Kyiv, its European partners and their allies within the U.S. administration, who, after Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, faced a clear set of…

MAP: Putin's land grab as Trump says Ukraine must give up territory ... Zelensky is meeting with Trump after the President's summit with Putin (Image: Getty) Talks to end the war in Ukraine resume today. This time, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky is meeting with Trump , following the President's historic meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday. Meanwhile, speculation is growing about what kind of deal could be struck to end the conflict. Since he met with Putin, Trump has reversed course to go for an overall peace agreement instead of the ceasefire that he has long championed. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Shortly after he met with the Russian leader, Trump told Fox News, "I think we're pretty close to a deal." Later, he added, " Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they'll say no." Putin body double rumors explode after viewers spot clues at summit Trump's three-word whisper to Putin before major meeting It's looking likely that a peace agreement will include demands for Ukraine to cede land to Russia (Image: Sky News) Any agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin could leave Ukraine in an impossible position, with the possibility that Trump may ask Zelensky to cede land …

Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks End Abruptly - TIME The second day of peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Geneva ended abruptly Wednesday morning, after just two hours of discussions. Ahead of the sit-down, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had remarked upon the “difficult” first day of negotiations, which lasted six hours, and accused Russia of stalling progress. “We can state that Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage,” he said. “I set a clear task for the Ukrainian delegation—to do everything possible so that the negotiations are nonetheless productive and increase the chances for peaceful solutions.” After the talks ended, Zelensky reportedly told members of the press over WhatsApp: “We can see that progress has been made, but for now, positions differ because the negotiations were difficult.” Rustem Umerov, head of the on-site Ukrainian delegation, also delivered a brief statement , describing the discussions as “intensive and substantive.” “Within the delegation, both political and military tracks were engaged, and security parameters and mechanisms for implementing possible decisions were discussed. A nu…

Trump snubs Zelensky's offer to help US with drone tech and lashes out ... Donald Trump made clear that his personal grudge with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky hasn’t abated during a phone interview with NBC News. Speaking with Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker on Saturday, the president knocked Zelensky for offering assistance to the U.S. and Middle Eastern countries, the latter of which the Ukrainian president said on Friday were seeking his aid in sharing drone detection technology. The “last person we need help from is Zelensky,” Trump told Welker. Iran continues to bombard neighboring countries with drone and missile attacks, targeting U.S. and Israeli military assets, as the war stretches into its third week. The Trump administration has repeatedly declared victory while the U.S. and Israel continue to launch attacks in recent days. Iranian forces, in response, have largely closed off the Strait of Hormuz, choking global shipping traffic. The lengthening conflict threatens to become a focal point of Trump’s second year in office as Republicans, including some within his own administration, call for the president to find an off-ramp and conclude the war before the ef…

The only 'winner' here is Putin: Ukraine unites in response to Trump ... A trap or a misstep? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sit-down with Donald Trump and JD Vance heads south. AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov “A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelenskyy.” That was the verdict of the editorial team at the Kyiv Independent, one of Ukraine’s leading media outlets, on a remarkable spat in the Oval Office that played out on Feb. 28, 2025. The online newspaper European Pravda characterized the “quarrel at the highest level” as a diplomatic failure, but added that it was “not yet a catastrophe.” Some Ukrainians I have spoken to since the fractious encounter, during which Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy was repeatedly hectored by U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, have indeed characterized it as disastrous for the country . But for others, the incident has been calmly accepted as the new reality in U.S.-Ukraine relations . There have been some questions directed at Zelenskyy – did he allow himself to be baited into an an argument that could have real consequences? Should he have remained silent? But for the most part, the treatme…

Trump looks set to abandon Ukraine peace efforts - The Conversation Has Donald Trump signalled that the US is done with supporting Ukraine against Russia? EPA/Presidential press service handout Donald Trump appears to have had a major change of heart with regards Ukraine. On the face of it, it looks like he has embraced outright optimism that Kyiv “is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form”. This came with the message that Europeans will need to be in the driving seat to make this happen . According to Trump , a Ukrainian victory depends on “time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO”. The only US commitment is “to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them”. Most tellingly, Trump signed his Truth Social missive off with: “Good luck to all!” This is perhaps the clearest indication yet that the US president is walking away from his efforts to strike a peace deal. It also suggests that he has given up on a separate deal with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. But this is where the good news ends – and where the European-led coalition of the willing will need to deliver security and stability…

Alexander Stubb: Ukraine has won the war against Russia - CNBC Finnish President Alexander Stubb told CNBC Tuesday that Ukraine has already won the war against Russia — even as he warned that Kyiv still urgently needs more air defense support from NATO allies. Stubb highlighted that Ukraine had managed to preserve its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity despite more than four years of full-scale invasion by Moscow. "Look at things from a Moscow perspective: In the past four years, during the active war, they have advanced 60 kilometers. In World War II, they went from Moscow to Berlin, that's 1,400 kilometers. You have to ask yourself: 'Who has won, who has lost?' I say Ukraine has won," Stubb said at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey on Tuesday. "My message is that yes, Europe needs to ramp up, but you know what, Ukraine needs NATO, but NATO needs Ukraine as much as the other way around," he added. Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson struck a similar tone earlier in the day. "Russia is certainly not winning the war against Ukraine right now, that's quite obvious, Ukraine is having spectacular successes," Kristersson said. "Russia is not at all managing th…

Ukraine is now Trump's proxy war | Stop the War After six months of diplomatic overtures to Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump has signalled he is ready to escalate the West’s proxy war with Russia after meeting NATO allies on 14 July. Expressing his disappointment with Putin, Trump announced the US will, after all, continue new weapons shipments to Ukraine. He also gave the Russian leader fifty days to end the war or face secondary tariffs on countries continuing to purchase Russian exports, principally oil. While few are taking the threat of secondary tariffs seriously, proponents of the West’s proxy war with Russia are reacting with jubilation to Trump’s U-turn on sending new weapons shipments to Ukraine.The Economistcalled the move ‘cynical’ but ‘welcome’ on 16 July. Trump’s war In a major provocation, furthermore, Trump signalled that he supported Ukrainian strikes on Moscow and St Petersburg using long-range US weapons. Although he backtracked the next day, his outburst will undoubtedly help to normalise the idea that Ukraine, supported by the West, can respond to the Russian invasion by mounting attacks on Russian soil. We need only look back just over six weeks to see the r…

Trump says Ukraine, Russia 'closer than ever' to peace, but challenges ... President Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) By Will Weissert, Seung Min Kim and Elise Morton Dec. 28, 2025 Updated 3:29 PM PT 8 7 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X LinkedIn Threads Reddit WhatsApp Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . Trump, hosting Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, says Russia and Ukraine are ‘closer than ever before’ to reaching a deal to end the war. Trump and Zelensky both acknowledged thorny issues remain, including whether Russia can keep Ukrainian territory it controls. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump on Sunday insisted Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever before” to a peace deal as he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Florida resort, but he acknowledged that negotiations could still break down and leave the war dragging on for years. The U.S. president’s statements came after the two leaders met for …

Ukraine drops NATO goal as Trump envoy sees progress in peace talks - CNBC PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyyoffered to drop Ukraine's aspirations to join the NATO military alliance as he held five hours of talks with U.S. envoys in Berlin on Sunday to end the war with Russia, with negotiations set to continue on Monday. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said "a lot of progress was made" as he and U.S. PresidentDonald Trump'sson-in-lawJared Kushnermet Zelenskyy in the latest push to end Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II, though full details were not divulged. Zelenskyy's adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said the president would comment on the talks on Monday once they were completed. Officials, Lytvyn said, were considering the draft documents. "They went on for more than five hours and ended for today with an agreement to resume tomorrow morning," Lytvyn told reporters in a WhatsApp chat. Ahead of the talks, Zelenskyy offered to drop Ukraine's goal to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees. The move marks a major shift for Ukraine, which has fought to join NATO as a safeguard against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration included in its constitution. It also meets …

Beware the 'Anchorage Formula': Why Russia has invented an agreement ... US President Donald Trump, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet during a US-Russia summit on Ukraine at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images Russia War in Ukraine Donald Trump See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! Follow In Russian statements surrounding the latest round of peace talks in Abu Dhabi , a new catchphrase is emerging: “the Anchorage Formula.” “The territorial question, which is part of the ‘Anchorage Formula,’ of course carries particular significance for the Russian side,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday, adding, “our negotiators continue to defend our position.” In comments two days earlier, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov also harked back to that bilateral summit in Alaska last August, saying Moscow was looking for a peace deal “that fully corresponds to the fundamental understandings reached by the presidents of Russia and the US during their meeting in Anchorage.” But here’s the thing: That much-touted summit did not result in any kind of concrete…

Trump's pause on Ukraine aid is like the U.S. switching ... - NBC News Add NBC News to Google Trump orders pause on military aid to Ukraine in wake of Oval Office clash with Zelenskyy 07:59 Get more news Live on Share Add NBC News to Google March 4, 2025, 5:56 AM EST / Updated March 4, 2025, 8:06 AM EST By Alexander Smith LONDON — President Donald Trump’s decision to pause American military aid to Ukraine is handing Russia’s Vladimir Putin the upper hand on the battlefield and in geopolitical negotiations, former officials and experts warned Tuesday. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. The White House said the defense assistance was being reviewed to make sure it was contributing to the administration’s goal of being “focused on peace.” Military analysts say that withholding Ukraine’s defensive lifeblood will be “crippling” in a matter of months as it tries to hold back the Russian war machine and defend its cities being bombed nightly. It will also deepen the chasm between the Trump administration and Washington’s longtime European allies , who are already scrambling to fill the void left by a U.S. government pursui…

Zelensky Gives Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire Update - Newsweek ... By Shane Croucher and John Feng 0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv is working with its partners in the "Coalition of the Willing" to draw up a peace plan, including a ceasefire, to end the Russian war against Ukraine in a similar vein to President Donald Trump 's 20-point framework for Gaza. Zelensky wants the plan to be short and light on details and said it would be worked on over the coming days, though he does not expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept it. "Some quick points," Zelensky told Axios of the plan in an interview published Monday morning. "Like a plan for a ceasefire. We decided we will work on it in the next week or ten days." Peace in Ukraine has eluded Trump, who has spent months trying to broker at least a ceasefire, largely through diplomatic engagement with Moscow. But the Kremlin has instead dug in on its war goals, and even escalated its attacks, so no end to the war appears in sight. Read More on World …

Why Europe's Leaders Just Chose More War Over Bitter Peace Not Russia, But Civil War: Why the West Is Preparing to Intervene in Ukraine The war in Ukraine is set to enter its fourth winter amid renewed geopolitical tensions after key European leaders rejected a 20-point peace proposal backed by former U.S. President Donald Trump. The move has intensified debates over the future of the conflict as Russian forces continue to make steady advances along the eastern front. Trump Plan Dismissed as “Unacceptable” The Trump team’s proposal, delivered to Kyiv earlier this month, called for a ceasefire in exchange for significant concessions from Ukraine. The plan demanded recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, acceptance of Russian control over occupied areas of Donbas, a permanent ban on NATO membership, and a cap of 600,000 troops on the Ukrainian armed forces. In return, it offered security guarantees and partial easing of sanctions on Moscow. Trump reportedly gave Ukraine until Thanksgiving to respond. However, the initiative was swiftly rejected by major European powers. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula …

Donald Trump is selling out his allies while he still has time W e’ve heard a lot over the past few weeks and, indeed, for about a decade on and off about how so much of the coverage of Donald Trump in the mainstream media (that’s me) is biased, unbalanced, and suffering from “ Trump Derangement Syndrome ”. Well, the man can be maddening in all manner of ways but, as ever, I’d love to offer a balanced assessment of his peace plan for Ukraine so far as we understand it, and his motivations. Despite the angry rants he sometimes indulges in, and a taste for extra-judicial execution of America’s “enemies”, I think Trump is sincere in wanting an end to all sorts of wars, and not just to get his hands on the Nobel Peace Prize to outdo some of his predecessors (the risible Fifa peace prize he was recently awarded being a pitiful, Poundland version of the real, noble thing). When he talks with some force about the thousands of lives lost every week in the vicious conflict, he probably means it, though he invariably fails to mention who started it and occasionally, grotesquely , blames Volodymyr Zelensky. It also seems fairly obvious that Trump really does want that Nobel prize, if only be…