President Donald Trump has announced that he is close to reaching a deal with Ukraine and Russia to end the ongoing war in Ukraine. This statement came after a day of meetings at the White House with French President Emmanuel Macron, where Trump urged Europe to take a bigger role in funding and Paris pushed for more assurances from Moscow.
The war in Ukraine has been ongoing for three years now, and it is time for it to come to an end. President Trump has made it clear that he is committed to finding a solution and has been actively working towards it. He has also expressed his desire for a deal that would include an agreement with Ukraine for its critical minerals.
During a press conference, Trump stated, “There’s tremendous distrust on both sides. That’s why it’s good that I’m coming in now. But I think it’s to the very much benefit of Russia to make a deal and to go on with leading Russia in a very positive way. That’s what you have to do. But I really believe that he wants to make a deal. I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.”
President Macron, on the other hand, was more cautious in his approach. He corrected Trump in the Oval Office when Trump said that Europe supported Ukraine with a loan. Macron then emphasized the need to be cautious when dealing with Moscow. “Let’s try to get something first which can be assessed, checked, and verified,” he said. “And let’s be sure that we build sufficient guarantees in the short run. And this is where we are ready to be engaged. As for France, a lot of my European colleagues are ready to be engaged. But we do need this American backup because this is part of the credibility of the security guarantees. And this is our collective deterrence capacity. And I have the feeling that the president has this capacity.”
The meetings between Trump and Macron have been seen as a positive step towards finding a solution to the war in Ukraine. Analysts have spoken about the progress made during these meetings, with William Pomeranz, a senior scholar at the Wilson Center Kennan Institute, stating, “It looks like they agreed to have European peacekeepers enforce the peace between Russia and Ukraine. There are a lot of other side issues that I haven’t really been able to get a hold of, but yes, there are attempts to have a peace agreement and a use of peacekeepers to enforce the agreement between Russia and Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope and emphasized the importance of Washington’s role in finding a solution. He stated, “Our teams are already working productively with the U.S. on an economic agreement, which we hope to sign in Washington. And President Trump, we would really like to hear from you because all our people, all our families, are very worried: ‘Will there be support from America? Will America be the leader of the free world?’ And I want to be very honest, very honest with you: For our people, for life in general, it is so important that American support, American assistance remains.”
However, there have been concerns raised by other world leaders about Ukraine being left out of high-level discussions between Washington and Moscow in Saudi Arabia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently met with Zelenskyy in Ankara, also expressed his concerns about Russia not being included in the process. “Apart from the Istanbul process, Russia has been excluded from the tables established so far, and therefore the desired result has not been achieved,” Erdogan said. “If results are to be obtained from the new process, Ukraine must definitely be included in the process, and this war must be ended through mutual negotiations.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that talks have not been specific so far. “During the phone conversation and at the meeting in Riyadh, we certainly touched on issues related to the Ukrainian crisis,” he said. “However, it was not discussed in essence. We only agreed that we would approach it. That being said, of course, we are not rejecting the participation of European countries.”
Some analysts have raised concerns about Trump’s approach to finding a solution, stating that it may not be advantageous to Ukraine. Liana Fix, a fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations, stated, “We have to see this as a move by Donald Trump to undermine the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensk
