Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are again in tune
US and Russian presidents are now highlighting Europe, while stagnation involves efforts to end Ukraine’s war three weeks after its high -level but low -impact summit in Alaska.
Trump appealed to Europe to make more in a call with European leaders on Thursday-although the only war-related incremental diplomatic activity is coming from US transatlantic allies, trying to develop security guarantees to protect Ukraine after any peace agreement.
The last turn of the president’s erratic diplomacy regarding Ukraine occurred a day after he told reporters that he planned to talk to Putin again so he could decide “what we are going to do.” He refused to say whether he would approve severe direct sanctions against Russia if Putin continued to slow his peace initiative after the Russian President ignored repeated two-week deadlines, the last of which he expires this Friday. “Whatever your decision, we will be happy or unhappy with her. And if we are unhappy, you will see what will happen,” Trump said in the Oval Room on Wednesday.
Trump talked to Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, along with other European leaders. The Ukrainian President said later that the conversation addressed economic pressure on Russia and “depriving the Russian money war machine.”
But the message on the American side after the conversation blamed Europeans than Russia.
Trump “emphasized that Europe should stop buying Russian oil that is financing the war – as Russia has received 1.1 billion euros in EU fuel sales by a year,” said one White House official after the call. “The president also emphasized that European leaders should exert economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts,” said the official.
On the one hand, Trump is right. Given the serious threat to the security that European nations realize from Russia, it is strange that there are still countries from the European Union to buy Russian energy at a time when the West has imposed sanctions to try to weaken Moscow’s economy due to its illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Still, like many of Trump’s positions on war, his pressure on Europe contains illogical and even hypocritical elements. After all, he is requiring Europe to face China because of his Russian oil purchases when he himself is not prepared to sanction Beijing. The United States are involved in commercial negotiations with the Chinese after the president triggered a high tariff war, despite the very unfavorable letters from the US. Trump seems reluctant to do anything that harms his assumptions of reaching an agreement.
But its stance on Europe reflects its treatment to another former friend, India, who is suffering from a 50% rate on his exports to the United States, justified by Trump due to his continuous purchases of Russian oil. Its decision destroyed an attempt of three decades on the part of successive Democratic and Republican presidents to keep India out of China’s orbit, another rising Asian superpower.
The cost of his strategy was evident this week, when Chinese President Xi Jinping offered Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a warm reception in a summit of authoritarian leaders. Modi, in turn, spent an hour in Putin’s limo, in a repetition of the Russian leader’s ride in Trump’s Beast Car Armored during the Summit in Alaska three weeks ago.
Anyway, it is unlikely that increasing pressure on Europe to reduce your Putin oil purchases decisive. The continent has taken steps to reduce its dependence on Russian energy as the war intensifies in Ukraine. Russia was once the largest oil supplier in the EU. But since then, the Member States have imposed a ban on sea sea exports and refined oil products. Lauren Kent of CNN reported last month that oil imports to Europe fell to 1.46 billion euros in the first quarter of 2025, before 13.9 billion euros in the same period of 2021.
Russia seeks to divide the US and Europe
However, Russia is intensifying its classic strategy of trying to create divisions among NATO allies, while seeking to create space for their strength to press more gains on the front line in eastern Ukraine.
During his visit to China, Putin met Slovacian Prime Minister Robert I was and accused the Europeans of feeding the “hysteria” about the alleged Moscow plan to attack Europe. “Any sensible person knows perfectly perfectly that Russia has never had, has no and will never have any desire to attack anyone,” said the Russian President, whose forces entered Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.
In Alaska, Putin warned – alongside a US president who often criticizes United States allies – that Europe should not “disturb” his diplomacy with Trump.
And earlier this week, the European Commission said a plane carrying its leader Ursula von der Leyen was the target of interference with the GPS navigation system during the grounding in Bulgaria on Sunday and that Russia was suspicious. Moscow rejected the allegation as “false” and a symptom of European “paranoia”.
In another attack on Europe this week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Russia considered “unacceptable” the idea of any sending foreign troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement. It was Moscow’s latest attempt to sabotage European pressure to create a security force for Ukraine after the war.
There are also no signs of the meeting between Putin and Zelensky that White House officials predicted with confidence that would take place just two weeks ago. Putin offered to make conversations in Moscow. But as it would be impossible for Zelensky to feel safe in this place, it was seen as another example of obstruction.
Trump once suggested as a third party in the negotiations, but returned to the Russian position that there should first be a meeting for two. Ukraine allies fear that Putin orchestrated a confrontation at a bilateral meeting he could use to argue with Trump that Zelensky sabotaged the process.
Some advancement in security guarantees – but Russia would be an obstacle
There was a flash of progress on Thursday-even if conditioned to the unlikely success of a Trump peace initiative that stagnated even before it really started.
After the call between Trump, Zelensky and members of the “coalition of the willing countries”, Ukrainian allies, French President Emmanuel Macron said 26 countries pledged to contribute to potential peacekeeping force if a ceasefire agreement is finalized.
Macron said that, in addition to strengthening Ukraine’s Armed Forces and sending European troops to the country, the third component of Ukraine security guarantees should be a “American security network.” The US told allies that they are open to playing a limited role in providing safety guarantees to Ukraine if a peace agreement with Russia is reached.
At the end of another week with few advances towards peace in Ukraine, it is no wonder, as reported by Alayna Trene of CNN, that Trump is becoming frustrated.
But there are few signs that he has a great idea to break the impasse.
