On Monday, Emmanuel Macron visited the White House. This Thursday, Keir Starmer has done so. France and the United Kingdom, two of the main European powers, the only two nuclear powers, the two nations that have committed to sending troops to Ukraine to ensure that if there is a peace agreement with Russia this time, it is "fair and permanent." President Donald Trump has received both of them, has shown harmony, especially with the British, and optimism. And although Trump is Trump, uncontrollable, unpredictable, driven by impulses rather than reasons, inclined to exaggeration and stories that have little to do with reality, and his position on Ukraine and Russia has very little to do with that of European partners, this week at least a slight change in tone has been noticed.
Regarding war, peace, and leaders. Of Volodymyr Zelenski, whom he has repeatedly criticized and insulted, only good words. "We are going to have a very good meeting tomorrow morning. We are going to get along very well. I have a lot of respect for him. We have given them a lot of equipment and a lot of money, but they have fought very bravely, no matter how you look at it. They have fought for real. Someone has to use that equipment, and they have been very brave," he praised.
This Thursday, Trump has insisted that the door of NATO is closed to Ukraine, because he does not see Russia accepting it under any circumstances, but also because he himself believes that one of the causes of the annexation of Crimea or the total invasion of 2022 is Russian fear of the Atlantic Alliance. But in return, in the last 24 hours, he has insisted on something that until then did not seem to worry him much: "We are going to do everything we can for Ukraine to regain as much occupied territory as possible".
He has repeated it on two occasions in a press conference. Important for the message and the moment, as just today Thursday, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has reiterated that Russia is not willing to give up the four occupied provinces - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia - regardless of where the front line is now. "The territories that have become part of Russia, which are included in our Constitution, are an integral part of Russia. This fact is not open to discussion," he warned.
Starmer, like Macron, has chosen to praise the president and play on his terms. Applauding him, thanking him for his "leadership" and for betting on peace. He has avoided disagreeing when British journalists sought fissures by talking about Canada or Gaza. And he has shaken hands with him by giving him the letter from King Charles and making him feel "special" and the protagonist of "something historic." And it worked.
But the Labour leader has also interrupted his hosts on two occasions. The first, like the Frenchman, to say that European aid to Ukraine is like the American one, mainly non-repayable. Or to defend that there is freedom of expression in his country, after J.D. Vance's criticisms. And he has taken the opportunity to introduce the message he wants to resonate with Trump: "Mr. President, I welcome your deep and personal commitment to achieving peace and ending the killings. You have created a moment of tremendous opportunity to reach a historic peace agreement. But we have to do it right. There is a famous motto in the UK from after World War II that says we have to win the peace, and that is what we must do now, because it cannot be a peace that rewards the aggressor or encourages regimes like Iran. We agree that history must be on the side of the peacemaker, not the invader."
Many of Trump's ideas are fixed, and no matter what happens, he will not budge. He believes that if he had been president in 2022, the war would not have occurred. He believes he knows Vladimir Putin very well, that he understands him, and that Putin respects and admires him. He is convinced that NATO was partly to blame and that Russia should not have been expelled from the G-8. And he sympathizes with Putin personally. Because of his character, because he appreciates his leadership style, and because he believes that both were victims of a conspiracy by the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, and the "deep state of the US" to harm him, due to investigations into his team's, his campaign's, and many advisors' relationships with Moscow. That led several of them to prison. "I have spoken with him. I have known him for a long time. We had to go through the Russian scandal together. That was not good. It's not fair. It was a rigged deal and had nothing to do with Russia. It was a rigged deal... and they had to endure it too," he said about that scandal.
But although Trump likely overestimates his capabilities, he also seems to accept some control clauses. "I don't think he will go back on his word. I don't think he will [attack] again once we reach an agreement. I think the agreement will hold now. They will have security," he insisted, guaranteeing that there will be a lasting agreement. But this time, in response to the insistence on whether he really trusted him, he used the expression "trust but verify," an old political adage popularized by Ronald Reagan, a symbol of a tough stance against Moscow and a prophet of deterrence.
There are two different schools in the administration. The special envoy for the conflict, General Kellogg, leads, along with Marco Rubio, the most critical and distrustful wing of Putin and Russia. On the other side, special envoy Steve Witkoff, who dined with Putin a few weeks ago and now also boasts of knowing him very well, Vice President J.D. Vance, and the Trump family. His son Donald Jr., who never misses an opportunity to insult or belittle Zelenski, stated just yesterday [Wednesday] that it was absurd to take Ukraine's side if Russia, a nuclear power and the largest country in the world, was on the other side: "The United States should have sent weapons to Russia".
But Trump has seen a commercial opportunity with both parties and believes that will be enough to appease Russian imperial ambitions. Zelenski will come to Washington on Friday, and paving the way, and mocking everyone and everything as he likes to do, Trump stated this Thursday that their "relationship is magnificent" and that he "can't believe I said that," referring to when he called the Ukrainian a "dictator". And he has extended sanctions against Russia for another year, despite all his rhetoric.
He will be at the White House to sign an agreement that Kiev, suffocated, pressured, blackmailed, has had no choice but to accept, with painful concessions of its potential mineral resources to Washington in exchange for its help. Trump defines it as an essential part of the peace agreement since, in his view, when American companies take charge of those resources, Russia will no longer attack. And that he will sit down with the United States to also sell them their precious rare minerals.