Donald Trump says that Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. However, the statements made by the Russian president expose his North American counterpart. He does not seem to have any desire when he insists that Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the eastern region of the country or his Army will take it. That means rejecting any commitment on how to end the “special military operation” in a negotiated way.
“Either we liberate these territories by force or the Ukrainian troops will abandon them,” the Russian president told the newspaper.as prior to his visit to India these days, in search of establishing a business relationship that continues. Moscow currently controls around 85% of Donbas but wants it all. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out giving up territory for now. Their sovereignty is at stake.
Trump said Wednesday that the previous day’s talks in the Kremlin, attended by his special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jarfed Kushner, were “reasonably good,” adding that it was too early to say what would happen since “it takes two to tango.” The Kremlin insists today that it is waiting for a response from Washington, after said meeting and after contacts between the US and Ukraine have been announced to discuss the move, this time in Florida. The meeting was supposed to be in the American afternoon, our early morning, but there has been no official confirmation. “Now we are waiting for the reaction of our American colleagues to the discussion we had on Tuesday,” insists, meanwhile, Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov, quoted by RIA.
No meetings or calls
The spokesperson added that there were no plans for a new call between Putin and Trump and that no date had been set for a new meeting with Witkoff. He also did not give, again, details of what was discussed this week. Apparently, there is stagnation. Even more so given Putin’s words in India.
The original version of the US peace plan proposed handing over areas of the Donbas still under Ukrainian control to Putin’s de facto control, but Witkoff’s team presented a modified version in Moscow.
In his interview with India TodayPutin said he had not seen the new version before his talks with the American team. “That’s why we had to go over every point, that’s why it took so long,” the Kremlin leader explained. He also said Moscow did not agree with parts of the US plan. “Sometimes we have said yes, we can discuss it, but we cannot agree on that,” Putin said.
“To say now what is not good for us or where we could reach an agreement seems premature, since it could disrupt the mode of operation that President Trump is trying to establish,” Putin said.
The president also did not mention the . At least two important points of controversy persist: the fate of the Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces and the security guarantees for Ukraine, which Moscow wants to reduce to the maximum, after demanding that they not enter NATO (neither now nor ever) and that they reduce their troops to 600,000 troops. Ushakov, the key negotiator, said immediately after the talks that there had been “no compromise” on ending the war. He also hinted that Russia’s negotiating position had been strengthened by what Moscow said were its recent battlefield successes.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of stalling any ceasefire agreement, claiming Moscow is trying to seize more Ukrainian territory. Commenting on the talks in the Kremlin, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybhia said Putin was “wasting the world’s time.”
Ukraine has long insisted that it must be given firm security guarantees in any deal. On Wednesday, Zelensky said that “the world clearly feels that there is a real opportunity to end the war” but negotiations must be “backed by pressure on Russia,” which kyiv and its European allies accuse of deliberately delaying any ceasefire agreement.
The European position
The Ukrainian president emphasized last week that his top negotiators had managed to make some key changes to the original US peace plan – seen as strongly favorable to Moscow – during talks with a US delegation in Geneva on November 23. In a joint statement, U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators said at the time that they had crafted an “updated and refined peace framework” but did not provide further details.
Europe’s top negotiators, who had expressed concerns about the original US plan, were also in the Swiss city last week, meeting separately with the Ukrainian and US teams. Yesterday, the German newspaper He revealed that he had obtained a confidential transcript of a conference call in which community leaders expressed concern about the US negotiations. “There is a possibility that the United States will betray Ukraine on the territorial issue without clarity on security guarantees,” French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly said, according to an English-language transcript of Monday’s conference call.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also warned Zelensky should be. “They are playing with you and with us,” he reportedly said. Finnish President Alexander Stubb was also quoted by the German media as saying: “We must not leave Ukraine and Volodimir alone with these guys.”
In response to a query from The mirrorFrance’s Elysee Palace declared that “the president did not express himself in those terms.” The presidential office declined to provide details on how Macron expressed himself, citing confidentiality. Stubb declined to comment to the newspaper and Merz has not commented on the matter.
the White House stated in this regard: “Secretary [Marco] Rubio, Special Envoy Witkoff, Mr. Kushner and the president’s entire national security team are working tirelessly to stop the killings between Russia and Ukraine.” “They have held productive meetings to gather input from both sides on a plan that can foster a lasting and enforceable peace,” the statement read.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory. In recent weeks, Russian troops have slowly moved into southeastern Ukraine, despite reports of numerous combat casualties.
