The News
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday launched a stunning attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, suggesting that Ukraine was at fault for Russia’s full-scale invasion and for failing to end the war, and calling Zelenskyy a ”dictator without elections.″
“I hear that they’re upset about not getting a seat [at the negotiating table], well, they’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
In a later social media post, Trump doubled down on his claim that Zelenskyy had not acted to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, suggesting instead that the Ukrainian leader “probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going.”
Zelenskyy, ahead of a meeting with US envoy for Russia and Ukraine Keith Kellogg, pushed back on Trump’s comments, saying the president was in a ”disinformation space″ crafted by Russia.
SIGNALS
Trump makes ‘jaw-dropping’ foreign policy pivot
The lightning-speed rapprochement between Russia and the US, two historic adversaries, has startled the world: US President Donald Trump is carrying out “one of the most jaw-dropping pivots in American foreign policy in generations,” The New York Times wrote. But US delegates, suddenly thrust to the negotiating table, may be out of their depth as they have “almost no experience in high-level international negotiation” and no regional expertise, Russia expert Timothy Snyder wrote on X: “Looks like a bloodbath by design.” Certainly, Moscow seems to have won round one: So far, Vladimir Putin has made few, if any concessions, the Democratic co-chair of the House of Representatives’ Ukraine caucus told Reuters.
Washington is handing Putin ‘diplomatic victory’
Former US President Joe Biden made Russia’s Vladimir Putin a pariah over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, with Biden describing Putin as a “murderous dictator” and a “pure thug.” Against that context, the mere fact of Trump’s phone call with Putin last week represented a diplomatic victory for the Russian leader, the BBC noted. The subsequent bilateral meeting between the US and Russia in Riyadh implicitly reinforced Moscow’s narrative that the war is an act of self-defense against NATO aggression, CNN wrote. The bonhomie is yielding “real, practical results,” the outlet wrote, including the potential return to previous staffing levels at each country’s respective embassies.
Europe scrambles to support Ukraine
As the US thaws ties with Russia, the European Union agreed to new sanctions on Russia, while a growing cadre of member nations have mooted ways to boost defense spending or even put troops in Ukraine. Sidelined by Washington, Europe must “think the unthinkable” and signal willingness to quit NATO for more strategic autonomy, a Singaporean diplomat argued in Foreign Policy. Staying in the alliance may become akin to “licking the boots that are kicking them in the face.” European leaders don’t seem to agree on their next move, however: France’s President Emmanuel Macron has sought to present as Europe’s “strongman,” one analyst told The Associated Press, while UK leader Keir Starmer has positioned himself as Washington’s Europe “whisperer.”