US President Donald Trump said on social media that Russia’s recent bombing of civilian areas, including in the capital Kyiv, signals that “maybe [Russian President Vladimir Putin] doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along.”
He then reiterated his earlier threat to impose “secondary sanctions” against those who violate the US’ primary ones.
This followed Trump’s latest meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral ceremony and comes after reports that the US has finalized its proposed peace plan for Ukraine.
Trump’s apparent volte-face toward Putin likely owes to five significant disagreements that have emerged during the course of negotiations. The first was referenced by Trump in his social media post, where he condemned Russia’s bombing of civilian areas.
Putin argued earlier in April that Russia is targeting Ukrainian troops there, but the optics of continued Russian strikes against civilian areas amidst peace talks with the US have evidently left a negative impression on Trump, who apparently now doubts Putin’s commitment to peace.
The second concerns European peacekeepers in Ukraine, which the reportedly finalized US peace plan suggests, despite Russia’s opposition.
Although US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth already declared that the US won’t extend Article 5 mutual defense guarantees to NATO troops in Ukraine, Russia fears that the Europeans could manipulate the US into mission creep. Putin, therefore, prefers for there to be no ambiguity about this and for Trump to scrub it from his plan.
Third, it’s unclear whether Ukraine will be obligated to at least partially demilitarize like Kyiv provisionally agreed to do during spring 2022’s ultimately failed peace talks, which is one of Russia’s explicitly declared goals in the conflict.
Trump is reluctant to support this since he seems to believe that it could embolden Putin to recommence hostilities in the future, especially in the absence of European peacekeepers, but this demand isn’t something that Putin could easily walk away from.
The fourth disagreement is over America’s refusal to accede to Russia’s demand to coerce Ukraine into withdrawing from the disputed territories that are still under Kyiv’s control.
The New York Times cited a source who described this as “unreasonable and unachievable”, but it’s imperative for Russia after the Kremlin recognized the entirety of these regions as Russian following September 2022’s referenda. As with Ukraine’s demilitarization, Putin also can’t easily walk away from this issue, hence the disagreement.
And finally, the reportedly finalized US peace plan also requests that Russia hand over the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and Kakhovka Dam to the US, which is as unacceptable for Putin as the preceding points of accepting European peacekeepers, dropping demilitarization, and curbing his territorial claims.
All five disagreements, including the first-mentioned one about Russia’s continued strikes against military targets in civilian areas, have collectively contributed to the latest impasse, reportedly right before the diplomatic finish line of a deal.
If Putin and Trump can’t resolve these issues, after which Trump would then also have to get Zelensky to agree to the new deal, then the peace process will probably go kaput.
Putin and Trump are incentivized to resolve their disputes due to how mutually beneficial the nascent Russian–US “New Detente” is, while Zelensky would struggle to continue fighting if the US once again cuts off military aid as punishment for rejecting a deal. Be that as it may, it will still be very difficult to break this deadlock.
This article was first published on Andrew Korybko’s Substack and is republished with kind permission. Become an Andrew Korybko Newsletter subscriber here.
A fool never listens to the wisdom of those on the streets
How many times have I and others said that Putin has been playing Trump like a piano
And how long before you and the other idiots that rule
Get it through their thick skulls and small brains that what is needed is a bounty on Putin’s thick skull
The man needs a head transplant
Trump is a narcissist. Soon he is going to get fed up with Putin making him look like a fool.
why ??? trump is a megalomaniac who thinks he runs the world and everyone has to listen to him regardless of causes and consequences – putin and xjp merely give a good reality check and you know what, zelinskii has yet to “apologise” after he pissed on trump and vance in their own home, the WH, hows that for the BIG boss of the world ???
Agent Orange has only himself to blame. He laid all his cards on the table from day 1. Now the whole world will play him like a fiddle, as the USA deserves. If he genuinly wanted peace, he should have done something about those genocidal Zionist devils and reigned them in, then dropped Zelensky like a rock and stopped all aid. Mr “Peace” is yet another fake Western clownshow.
Oh dear and now Pak and the Indians are going on a war footing. Grab the popcorn and kick back.
The right answer for the US is to walk away. If Zelensky wants to fight on, let him. Just because the UK, Soros and France signed a bunch of deals to carve up Ukraine’s economic jewels while supporting the Mad King of Kiev is their problem to solve, not America’s. Let all those who want the war to go on show their resolve in the trenches at the Shevchenko lithium field and Mine of Pokrovsk. The world would be a lot more peaceful if people like that had to fight their own wars.
If Putin or Xi had to fight in the frontline you mean?
Say what you want about Xi, the PRC is not cheerleading the war. But I agree all brave little chicken hawks should definitely go.
You Tiddly winks eat chicken hawks? Like everything else that walks, crawls or slithers on the land !
Trump is the best and smartest the west has right now. Thats why he’s the boss. Everyone else was a loser. He couldnt know that Putin was going to stab him in the back. He couldn’t know that China was prepared for his rein of chaos. He couldnt know that china and russia did their best to get him elected cause he was their guy! If you get someone more unhinged and crazy than trump, China and Russia will make sure he gets elected. This is how you bring down the west. You do it on the inside. Every american with chinese ancestory in those colonies voted for trump, so they could help bring it down.
Every Squint? Did you count them?
President Trump’s mistake is being too early with the ceasefire proposal. Without a decent attempt to capture the remainder of the annexed Oblasts, less Kherson west of Dnieper, Moscow is unlikely to agree to a ceasefire. Donald should sit tight for a while to see how Russia’s summer offensive plays out. Win or lose, a ceasefire will be more likely then.
Trump doesn’t make mistakes. Russia and China planned all this from the start.
Tariff man made big mistakes listening to pseudo economists like Navarro, Lutnick and Bessent. He went in guns blazing and blinked first. The orange balloon deflated before the game even began.
Like the planned 3 week SMO? Really great planning by Russ/Ch as the war enters it’s 4th year.
🤔 🇷🇺 is winning‼️ The 🌏 of 🎪🤡🤡🤡🤡 is 😥😥😥😥✌️
What Russia hasn’t won the SMO in the expected 3 weeks?
Spouting the same nonsense over and over again? The “expected 3 weeks” originated from some like-minded maroon of your kind, stop your verbal diarrhea.
But Putin did say the SMO would be over in 3wks when Kiev was taken.
3yr later, 150k KIA and 500k casualties the Putinkim Army isn’t looking too flash. And as for the Navy, is the Moskau still afloat?
All of this done by one of your closest Slavic brothers. 300yrs of fighting and suffering together.
Ain’t life grand !
So if Putin said so show me where! Or did he say it to you in private? Or are you perhaps a guy that has a little Putin living in his head?
22Feb 2022 ‘we expect a very short operation to de Nazify Kiev’
07Dec 2022 ‘Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Wednesday that his “special military operation” in Ukraine is taking longer than expected’
If you weren’t behind a Soviet firewall you could also look it up!
“22Feb 2022 ‘we expect a very short operation to de Nazify Kiev’
07Dec 2022 ‘Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Wednesday that his “special military operation” in Ukraine is taking longer than expected”
Very funny. Do you really think others will believe something you make up and scribble down in your poor grammar? You even got the second date you give wrong, what a maroon! There really might be a ‘little Putin’ living in your head…
I know it’s tough to admit Putin got it really wrong. You can look these up, or you can find me the link where Vlad said
‘Don’t worry, it will take over 3yrs, 150k dead, 500k wounded, and our closest brothers will hate us’.
Because those are the facts !
You want me to look up something you made up?
Maroon!
No. I want you to look up a Putin speech where he admits the 3wk SMO is taken longer than expected.
A bonus would be to also mention the sinking of the Black Sea Flagship Moscau.
Ain’t life grand!