OPINION: Putin and Trump Are Stalling, Europe Failing, Ukrainians Dying

Clear signals are coming from both Moscow and Washington now in terms of the war in Ukraine.

First, in bombing the cabinet of ministers in Kyiv over the weekend, and just days before attacks close to the EU and British Council offices in Kyiv, Moscow is saying that Russia wants to continue waging war, giving a red card to peace efforts but more importantly to European efforts to create a security blanket around Ukraine, once a ceasefire is agreed. The attacks in Kyiv sent a clear message to Europe that any Western forces deployed in Ukraine will not be safe – indeed they will be targets for Russia.

After the attacks in Kyiv I also assume that Western governments will be telling their own ministers and officials that their security in Kyiv and Ukraine can no longer be assured. Moscow is trying to bully the West to step back its efforts to support Ukraine and its peacemaking.

Second, I think it has to be crystal clear now: the Trump administration has zero intention to impose further sanctions, or any costs, on Russia, the aggressor. We are now six months plus into the Trump administration, which promised an end to the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, then 100 days, and now after SEVEN deadlines from Trump to Putin the US, under Trump, has rolled out ZERO sanctions on Russia. In the latest effort to stall, US Treasury Secretary Bessent has said that the US is prepared to join Europe in sanctioning Russia but only after Europe stops buying Russian energy. Fair point but Trump’s allies, Orban and Fico, are in the frontline of EU states still dependent on Russian energy imports. They will likely veto any EU efforts to cut to zero energy imports from Russia, allowing Trump thereby to stall doing the right thing in lodging crippling sanctions on Russia.

Other Topics of Interest

Inside G7’s Closed-Door Ukraine Peace Push: No Breakthrough Is Near, Analyst Warns

Behind-the-scenes G7 maneuvering to forge a quick Ukraine peace deal is running into harsh geopolitical realities, veteran analyst Paul Goble told Kyiv Post. Goble says deep divisions across Europe, Trump’s unpredictable transactional style and Ukraine’s drone campaign inside Russia mean a diplomatic breakthrough remains far out of reach.

Europe is responsible for gifting Trump an excuse not to sanction Russia further by not cutting energy imports further – and also not fully funding Ukraine via immobilized Russian asset seizures. There is a void in both leadership and strategic thinking in Europe.

But seeing is believing in terms of Putin engaging in serious peace talks on Ukraine and in Trump actually doing anything to penalize Russia to force it to the negotiating table.

Both Trump and Putin seem to want this war to continue.

Reprinted from the author’s @tashecon blog! See the original article here.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.