The United States is ready for a ceasefire. Ukraine, with all its reservations and demands for security guarantees, is ready to sit at the table accepting a ceasefire. Now it's Russia's turn to make a move, and anything other than acceptance, "will be a disappointment." That is the message that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, wanted to convey on Thursday, seated alongside NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, in the Oval Office.
Just a couple of hours after Vladimir Putin tangled with a confusing response on the issue, appearing to be in favor but with so many reservations, conditions, and nuances that in practice he has said he is not ready or willing. But also a few hours before Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, goes to meet with the Russian president again in Moscow. "Putin has issued a very promising yet incomplete statement. We will see now," added Trump.
"I would like to see a ceasefire from Russia. As you know, we have not been working blindly. We have discussed with Ukraine about its territory and the parts that would be retained and those that would be lost, and all the other elements of a final agreement. There is a very large power plant involved, about who will keep it, who will receive this and that. It is not an easy process. But the first phase is the ceasefire, and we do not want to waste time if it is not going to mean anything, that's why we are telling them 'this is what you can get. This is what you cannot get. The Ukrainians talked about NATO and being in NATO, and everyone knows the answer, they have actually known it for 40 years. So many details of a final agreement have already been discussed. Now it's time to see if Russia is on board or not, and if it's not, it will be a very disappointing moment for the world," said Trump from the White House.
The president's tone towards the two parties could not be more different. He has criticized, insulted, belittled, and shouted at the Ukrainians, while reserving either kind words or at most a neutral tone towards the Russians, as he demonstrated today. To pressure the Ukrainians, he cut off military aid and their access to intelligence. To do the same with the Russians, there has only been a vague threat of economic sanctions and trade tariffs so far. "Let's hope they do the right thing," he said, offering once again a face-to-face meeting when there is sufficient progress.
"At this moment, we have talks in Russia. We have representatives there, Steve Witkoff and others, and they are in very serious discussions. As you know, Ukraine has agreed to a total ceasefire, subject to what is happening today, and we hope that Russia does the same. Thousands of people are being killed, mostly young, every week, and we want this to stop. We want to stop it (...) it is also a tremendous cost for the United States and for other countries, and it is something that would never have happened if I were president, and it angers me greatly to see that it happened, but it did, and we have to stop it," he said, congratulating Rutte, who took office a few months ago after 14 years as Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
The Dutchman traveled to Mar-a-Lago in November, just after the elections, to start working with the new administration, and is in constant contact with Trump's team, especially with the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who on his first trip to Brussels, to the Alliance headquarters, delivered a clear message on how his country wants Europeans to take on their defense, but also any possible future security guarantees in Ukraine, as the U.S. will not send troops.
In his remarks to the media, Trump reiterated how his coming to power in 2017 changed NATO's way of working and forced everyone to loosen their wallets. "I would like to highlight that back then very few people were paying, and if they were, they were not paying what they were supposed to pay. Only seven countries were paying what they were supposed to pay. Even 2% of GDP is too low, it should be higher. It should be significantly higher (...) I managed to raise hundreds of billions of dollars. I simply said, 'We will not engage with you if you do not pay.' And the money started pouring in. And NATO was greatly strengthened thanks to my actions."
Perhaps the most awkward moment of the brief meeting occurred when a journalist asked Trump about Greenland and his intentions for the territory, which two days ago held elections and belongs to Denmark, another NATO ally. The president reiterated that in one way or another he aspires to acquire the territory for national security reasons and said, pointing to the Dutchman: "I am sitting with a man who could be crucial for this." Rutte, saying he preferred not to involve the Alliance in these discussions in front of the media, simply said that the issue of security in the Arctic is very serious and that "Trump is right to highlight the importance. We know that the Chinese use the route, that the Russians do too, and that we do not have enough icebreakers," he said to appease Trump without getting into bigger trouble.
"A ship docked there about 200 years ago. They claim they have rights over it (...) I don't know if that's true. In fact, I don't believe it," he said about the territory and Danish sovereignty, saying that in any case the European country is "very, very far away" and that since the United States already has a military presence in Greenland, "maybe we will see more and more soldiers going there." Trump also suggested that the Greenland election was very good "for us" and that "whoever did better is a very good person for us," referring to the separatists.