The double call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and then Trump's call with Volodymyr Zelensky, has left Ukrainians concerned. Soldiers on the front line share news of these conversations in the trenches thanks to the Starlink antennas of the Trumpian magnate Elon Musk and feel confident about being able to return home soon. Most of them already desire a ceasefire after almost three years of Russian invasion, but not in any way.
The message published by the US President, treating Putin with great familiarity, is bad news for the Kiev Government, to whom Trump then simply "informed" in a call that lasted almost an hour, while Putin's call lasted "an hour and a half."
From the start, Vladimir Putin has requested to negotiate peace with the US, as if Washington were the driving force behind this war (a narrative that aligns with the Russian version), always leaving Ukraine as a secondary player. It seems that this Yalta model, where Roosevelt and Stalin divided the world in February 1945 with Winston Churchill as a witness, will be repeated "immediately," as assured by the US President, satisfied with the format.
Following that triangular conversation, Zelensky wrote on his X profile that "President Trump shared details of his conversation with Putin. No one desires peace more than Ukraine. Together with the United States, we are defining the next steps to stop Russian aggression and ensure lasting and reliable peace. As President Trump said, let's do it." For Zelensky, the second part of the game initiated will take place in a few days at the Ramstein meeting (Germany) and during the visit of Trump's envoy, General Kellogg, to Ukraine. But it seems like the turkey is in the oven, and the Ukrainian President is not the one cooking it.
'Buddy-buddy' between Trump and Putin
Beyond these words, Ukrainian authorities are concerned about the level of camaraderie shown between the Russian and American leaders and the ideas they have about the so-called "day after the war". Zelensky's Victoria plan commitments, pushed for many months among his allies, have been of no use. Trump has shifted the goalposts, and we will see in which direction.
For Ukraine, it is essential that the peace treaty includes, even with the loss of some territories, security guarantees in which Washington now seems unwilling to participate. Certainly not with NATO, but not even outside of it. For the Trump Administration, the management of peace and the contact line between Russia and Ukraine should be a European matter, and it is the Europeans who should deploy sufficient troops to be deterrents against Russia.
Considering the meager Defense budgets, the doubtful attitude of European leaders, and the outdated level of many armed forces, this seems unlikely. With the leaders of Germany and France in clear political decline and countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, or Greece absorbed in their own problems, Ukraine is left only with the loyalty of the Baltic states, the Scandinavians, and their Eastern allies led by Poland.
Russia would somehow achieve a defensible deal in the eyes of its own people and a temporary way out of the Ukrainian labyrinth it entered almost three years ago without achieving any of its military objectives, such as taking Kiev in the first place, with the replacement of its president, and then the complete occupation of Donbass.
The European Union has taken a back seat, despite all the sanctions imposed on the Russian economy. Will this be up for negotiation? But how can you negotiate when you are not at the table?