Since taking office in January, Trump has regularly threatened action against Russia, only to delay those steps after talks with Putin. Trump sought a ceasefire ahead of an Alaska summit with Putin in August that produced none. At the time, some analysts said Putin pocketed US concessions with no intent to halt fighting.
Three-way talks between Putin, Zelenskyy, and Trump, another goal sought by Washington at the time, never materialised, and there is no immediate plan for such a meeting now. The Republican president has positioned himself as a peacemaker, brandishing diplomatic achievements including the recent Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal. He has said he thought the war in Ukraine, which began with Russia’s 2022 invasion, would have been easier to end.
“Putin is trying to derail the momentum toward greater pressure on Russia,” said Dan Fried, a former State Department official. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but the chances of moving toward a ceasefire by pushing Russia to get serious seem to have diminished.”
“What scares the Kremlin is Europe and the US redoubling their effort to support Ukraine,” Columbia University’s Lincoln Mitchell told CNA’s Asia First programme.
Mitchell, who lectures on international and political affairs, said it would be “easier” for Putin to “try to dissuade Trump than it would be to try to break apart the unity and the power that’s growing in Europe to support Ukraine, because a lot of those European countries feel more directly threatened by Russia”.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.