Despite declaring a diplomatic victory in his effort to push Moscow and Kyiv toward peace negotiations, Donald Trump has appeared to once again extend Vladimir Putin’s deadline with no indication the Russian despot will agree to concessions.
The US President said on Friday he will give Putin another “couple of weeks” before potential consequences after urging the Russian leader to meet Ukrainian leader Zelenksyy.
Asked what Trump will do if Putin doesn’t come to the negotiating table, the President responded: “We’ll see. I’ll see whose fault it is.”
“If there are reasons why, I will understand that; I know exactly what I’m doing. We’re going to see whether or not they have a meeting, that will be interesting to see, and if they don’t, why didn’t they have a meeting? Because I told them to have a meeting,” Trump said.
Russia’s chief diplomat made it abundantly clear Friday that Putin refuses to sit down with Zelenskyy unless the Ukrainians accept several of Moscow’s long-held conditions for ending the war.
The development represents a harsh blow to Trump, who had been promoting his diplomatic offensive as generating undeniable progress toward an agreement to stop a war he pledged as a candidate to conclude on his first day in office.
Trump announced Friday he anticipated making a choice about his future moves within two weeks if direct negotiations aren’t arranged. He suggested the potential for implementing fresh sanctions or tariffs against Russia, a warning he has previously issued but never acted upon.
Trump declared Monday that he had started making the preparations for a Putin-Zelenskyy summit shortly after wrapping up White House discussions with Zelenskyy and European officials as well as conducting a phone conversation with Putin. European leaders applauded the president’s ambiguous promises to support European security guarantees for postwar Ukraine during a meeting at the White House.
Trump seemed to alleviate European concerns that were heightened by his remarks following his Alaska summit with Putin just days prior, where he appeared to lean towards the Russian leader’s demand for Ukraine to surrender land taken by Russia. The European leaders even expressed cautious optimism that Trump was making progress after announcing his plans for direct talks, potentially followed by three-way negotiations involving him.
However, doubts have increased recently regarding Putin’s commitment to Trump’s peace-making efforts as Russian officials objected to key aspects of the emerging proposals.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Putin is prepared to meet with Zelenskyy to discuss peace terms, but only after crucial issues are first addressed by senior officials. This could lead to a lengthy negotiation process as the two sides remain significantly divided.
“There is no meeting planned,” Lavrov said in a taped interview for NBC’s Sunday show ‘Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.
“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all.”
Ukraine seeks Western security assurances to prevent any future Russian aggression, with U.S. and European leaders working frantically to develop comprehensive proposals for how such arrangements might function. However, Lavrov stated earlier this week that establishing security frameworks for Ukraine without Moscow’s participation would be futile.
Putin, meanwhile, on Friday made a visit to Sarov, a restricted city about 370 kilometers (230 miles) east of Moscow that has functioned as a hub for Russia’s nuclear weapons development since the late 1940s. The trip provided a barely concealed reminder that Russia ranks among the world’s leading nuclear powers.
