“Trump wants peace quickly and at any cost”

Donald Trump is pressuring Volodymyr Zelensky to accept the loss of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, in a strategy that aims for a quick reconciliation with Moscow, considers Pedro Cordeiro.

The North American agency Axios says that Trump is pressuring Zelensky to give in and there are even Ukrainian sources who denounce an attempt to distance the Ukrainian President from European leaders.

“Trump wants peace quickly and at any cost and until recently we know of a US foreign policy strategy document that shows that the end of the war in Ukraine will be an important point for a longed-for reconciliation between the United States and Russia. This is all more important to Trump than what happens to Ukraine or what its borders are.”

OThe territories are one of the points that are currently preventing a peace agreement from being reached.

“Even if it were to make a de facto recognition – as I think it will probably one day have to do, that it has lost those territories – it would not do so from a legal point of view, but even doing so from a factual point of view is something that at the moment Kiev is not yet in the mood to do and that is the main stumbling block.”

In view of the American withdrawal, the Ukrainian President intensifies contacts with European leaders looking for assurances of safety and continued support. Yesterday he was in London and Brussels and today he is in Rome to meet the Italian Prime Minister.

“The objective remains to achieve security guarantees for Ukraine, of continued support from Europeans, in this position in which the United States moves away from Kiev’s positions (…) Zelensky in Europe, because he has probably already realized that although he has to maintain good relations with Trump for life not to become even more difficult, it is on the European side that he has more guarantees of support.”

Among Europeans there is the question of whether or not to use the Russian assets they have seized to help Ukraine in the form of a loan, there is an attempt to find a scheme that will allow Ukraine to use this money, but not all European Union countries are on board.

Donald Trump warns Europe to be very careful

The change in US foreign policy represents a fundamental rupture in the transatlantic relationship, with Trump disregarding Europe in favor of rapprochement with Russia and confrontation with China.

“These statements show that the transatlantic relationship has fundamentally changed. The trusted ally that the United States has been for several decades, (…) and one of the pillars of the transatlantic bilateral relationship, between Europe and the United States, was fundamentally broken at the will of President Trump

“Trump has other priorities, he wants to get closer to Russia, he wants to compete with China, he thinks, I think, that he can pull Russia out of the Chinese embrace, I have the greatest doubts that this will be the case, and therefore he despises Europe.”

Europe does not interest him from the point of view of what Trump can obtain from his interests, whether political or commercial, Europe interests him little, the political traditions of Europe, the shared sovereignty in the European Union are things that are foreign to him, they are things that Trump does not value, on the contrary, and this really shows, and the latter document that was revealed about the foreign policy of the United States of America is proof of this: turning towards Russia, contempt for Europe and looking at China as an adversary to face.