US President-elect Donald Trump has delayed by several months his campaign promise to end the war in Ukraine in “24 hours”, in a shift in attitude that European partners are interpreting as a sign that his administration will not immediately give up support for Kiev. reports the newspaper Financial Times (FT) on Friday, quoted by News.ro.
Two European officials told the Financial Times that talks with Trump’s new team in recent weeks showed that they have not yet decided how to resolve the conflict and that support for Ukraine will continue after the inauguration of the president of the United States on January 20.
“The whole (Trump) team is obsessed with force and looking strong, so they are recalibrating their approach to Ukraine,” said one of the officials.
The incoming administration is also cautious because it fears comparisons that could be made with the disastrous withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, which they accused the Biden administration.
Six months instead of 24 hours
Earlier this week, Trump suggested that “six months” would be a more realistic goal to end the war. His representative designated as special envoy for the war in Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, told Fox News on Wednesday that the goal is to end the conflict within “100 days.”
“I want to set a personal and professional goal — I set it at 100 days,” Kellogg told Fox News when asked about a peace deal in Ukraine. He said that a way must be found to ensure that the solution is solid and lasting and that this war ends, “so that we stop the carnage”, he said.
According to the Financial Times, European leaders and officials argued to Trump and his team that continued US military aid was needed to put Kiev in a stronger position for peace negotiations and help bring Moscow at the negotiating table.
French officials said last month that strengthening Ukraine’s position on the battlefield meant stopping Russia’s advance in the east of the country, as there would be no discussion if Moscow continued to take the territory.
Meloni says the US will not abandon Ukraine
Washington’s continued military support is crucial to the defense of Ukraine, although European countries have also contributed weapons and significant financial aid to Kiev. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who met Trump last week at his Mar-a-Lago resort, ruled out the possibility of Washington “abandoning” Ukraine.
“I do not foresee a disengagement of the United States,” he said at a press conference on Thursday, adding that Trump is able to combine diplomacy with deterrence. Meloni added that Ukraine should receive concrete security guarantees as part of any potential diplomatic agreement to end the active conflict. “Security guarantees are fundamental if we really aspire to peace in Ukraine,” he said. “We all know that in the past Russia has violated the agreements it has signed. Without security guarantees, we cannot be sure that this will not happen again,” admitted Meloni.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has tried to convince Washington and other NATO allies to anchor these security guarantees in a concrete timetable for his country’s accession to NATO. But both Biden and Trump have shown reluctance to support such a step, as have some European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has suggested that European troops could be deployed in Ukraine to ensure that Russia does not strike again – an idea that does not yet enjoy unanimous support in Europe.
What Putin wants
Vladimir Putin would “welcome” any approach from Trump and would be ready for “dialogue” with the United States, the Kremlin said Thursday. Putin’s main goal in any discussion is to create new security agreements to ensure that Ukraine never joins NATO and that the US-led military alliance withdraws from some of its deployments in the ‘est, according to a former US official from the Kremlin and another person who discussed this with the Russian leader, writes the Financial Times.
“He wants to change the rules of the international order so that there are no more threats to Russia. He is very worried about what the world will be like after the war,” said the former Kremlin official. “Trump wants NATO to withdraw anyway. The world changes, anything can happen,” he said.
Western officials, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, tried to emphasize to him that it was important for Trump to ensure that he imposed “peace by a show of force” in Ukraine, avoiding a defeat for Kiev that would encourage Putin and his allies. – China, Iran and North Korea.
“We cannot have a situation where Kim Jong Un and the Russian leader and Xi Jinping and Iran are applauding because we reached an agreement that is not good for Ukraine, because in the long run it will be a serious security threat not only for Europe, but also for the United States,” Rutte told the FT last month.
