Trump hosts a multinational Ukrainian Peace Summithttps://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5458636-trump-zelensky-eu-leaders-meet/5 takeaways from the Trump-Zelensky White House meetingPresident Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Monday as the search for an end to the three-and-a-half-year war intensifies.Major European leaders also jetted in for the meeting. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were all in attendance. So too were European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.In a relief for all concerned, the meeting was vastly different from the late February contretemps in the Oval Office, in which Trump and Vice President Vance berated Zelensky at length.Here are the other main takeaways.A positive tone but few specificsThe mood music was positive on Monday, but huge hurdles remain on the road to peace.Trump was civil and solicitous toward Zelensky throughout the day, and he was also conspicuously affable to the European leaders, with whom he has had volatile relations.Trump argued that “while difficult, peace is within reach.” He also held out the promise of an imminent trilateral meeting between Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin and himself at which the knottiest issues of the conflict could be unpicked.Zelensky, for his part, enthused about his “really good” conversation with Trump — a far cry from February’s debacle.NATO’s Rutte said he was “really excited” about the prospects for peace, while Starmer asserted there was a chance of “real progress toward a just and lasting outcome.”Reaching that goal will be enormously difficult, however. Nothing that was said on Monday changed the underlying contours.The Europeans lauded Trump for committing to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a settlement.
Starmer, Meloni and von der Leyen all talked about guarantees akin to NATO’s Article 5, which holds that member nations will come to the defense of any ally that is attacked. But what exactly is an “Article 5-like security guarantee,” as termed by von der Leyen? And how would Putin accept such a thing, given its practical resemblance to NATO membership for Ukraine, to which he is implacably opposed?Conversely, Zelensky said he would be willing to discuss territorial changes at a trilateral meeting — but said nothing more on the topic, making it impossible to gauge how much pain he would be willing to take in that regard for peace.The overall lack of concrete detail makes it hard to argue a settlement is any closer.Europeans succeeded in shoring up ZelenskyThe fact that the European leaders trooped to Washington as reinforcements for Zelensky was one of the most notable elements of the day.By and large, they succeeded in their two intertwined aims: making sure there was no repeat of the earlier Oval Office humiliation of the Ukrainian president and defending Kyiv’s interests more broadly.In their remarks to the media, the Europeans talked about the degree to which they believe the war has enormous ramifications for other nations across the continent.“We are on the side of Ukraine,” was the straightforward message delivered by Meloni, who is usually seen as more simpatico with Trump than counterparts such as Macron and Merz.There is still plenty of European unease as to whether Trump will be too accommodating of Putin’s imperatives — but Monday quelled some of their worst fears.
Interim ceasefire is rare point of contentionA topic that was central to Trump’s meeting with Putin last week in Alaska reared its head again.Prior to that Alaska meeting, Trump wanted Russia and Ukraine to quickly agree to a ceasefire, which would then set the stage for more comprehensive peace talks. After Anchorage, he appeared to have shifted significantly in Putin’s direction, suggesting that it would be better to move to a full settlement without any halfway measures.Putin’s fondness for that framework is based on the widely accepted reality that Russia has the upper hand on the battlefield. The Kremlin fears an interim ceasefire would disrupt their momentum and allow Ukraine to regroup.On Monday, Merz was the most assertive about the need for a ceasefire right away. The German chancellor said he found it impossible to imagine a next step on the path to peace without a ceasefire.“Let’s try to put pressure on Russia,” Merz said.Trump seemed ambivalent about the idea, at best.That’s an important divide — and one that Putin might try to exploit.
Trump vouches for Putin’s desire to make peaceThe Europeans view Putin with the deepest suspicion, not only because of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine but because they fear his expansionist instincts in general. They also regard him as fundamentally untrustworthy.By contrast, Trump on Monday vouched more than once for the Russian leader’s interest in making peace.To a skeptical Zelensky, the president insisted that “I think you’ll see that President Putin really would like to do something else. … I think you’re going to see some really positive moves.”Toward the end of the public remarks with the European leaders, he again argued that “I think President Putin wants to find an answer, too.”Time will tell whether those assertions are true.Even Trump admitted, in apparent reference to his campaign trail pledge to end the war on day one of his second term, “I thought this was going to be one of the easier ones [to solve]. It’s actually one of the most difficult — very complex.”Huge stakes if a trilateral meeting happensMonday’s events did at least create some momentum in the search for peace.Trump wants to capitalize on that with a trilateral meeting soon.Such a meeting could truly be a make-or-break moment.If Putin, Zelensky and Trump get together in one room, there will be no way to avoid the most difficult issues that underpin the war.The stakes would also be enormous for each participant — including Trump, who could either emerge as the consummate dealmaker, or end up looking naive in his belief that he could get a peace agreement.
>>1427675If Putin is able to annex even one province other than Crimea, which he's already taken, then he will consider his land grab a success and try it again with the Baltic states. Nothing is going to change in the the long term unless the Russian people fight back against Putin's oligarchical mafia state, which doesn't seem likely anytime soon.
>>1427680You predict he's going to attack NATO states?[X] DOUBT
>>1427682>Guys he won't actually attack UkraineYeah we played this game before and look what happened.
>>1427680His people don't have the appetite for resistance. Most are either scared or just oblivious.
>>1427680Putin not being dealt with is a good summation of the problems with liberal politics in America and abroad.>Surely if we give one more concession instead of stamping out the people going for the grab, they'll stop trying to grab.>Keep going after more because they're allowed to get away with it
>>1427693 >Yeah we played this game before and look what happenedNo, Putin has never attacked a NATO country before and you are lying. The Balkans countries are NATO btw in case you didn't know
>>1427705Yeah and everyone said he wouldn't attack Ukraine either.
>>1427706>everyoneWho?He already took crimea like a decade ago or something.Really sounds like you are coping
>>1427706Like Trump is strong enough to stop RussiaEvery time he tries to stand up to him, Putin plays him like a fiddle, Trump TACOs into lawn chair formation and starts posting whatever propaganda Putin talked to him about.
Obama-era ambassador: ‘Major progress’ after Trump-Zelensky meetingFormer U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul on Monday lauded the Trump administration for its push for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as well as European leaders’ unified show of support for Kyiv during their White House visit.McFaul, who served in the Obama administration, said during an appearance on NBC News where he is an analyst that it was a “brilliant, brilliant” idea for the seven European leaders to meet with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington.The former ambassador said that “talking about security guarantees with European soldiers being a part of that — that is major progress, with American assistance.”“I, myself, would like NATO guarantees rather than NATO-like guarantees. But if you have to compromise, I think this is an important compromise and a step forward,” he added.
ICE is deporting Ukrainians now.
Putin-Zelensky Meeting Arranged by TrumpPresident Donald Trump has started arranging a meeting between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters on Monday that the meeting would take place within the next two weeks. Zelensky said he was ready for direct talks with the Kremlin chief.Trump separately said a "trilat," or meeting between Putin, Zelensky and himself, would take place after the initial summit between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff are "coordinating with Russia and Ukraine," Trump said.But many of the details surrounding the Putin-Zelensky meeting are still up in the air. "We don't know whether the Russian president will have the courage to attend such a summit," Merz said.It will be the first time the Ukrainian leader meets the Kremlin leader since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022
tRump: " PLEASE, PLEASE Zelfinksy, gibs The DonbASS to Poutine, as I want a Nobel Peace prize and I can then show that very bad fake POTUS Obama that I am better than him"
>>1427837>tRump: " PLEASE, PLEASE Zelfinksy, gibs The DonbASS to Poutine, as I want a Nobel Peace prize and I can then show that very bad fake POTUS Obama that I am better than him"Proof?
>>1427682Honestly he's such a colossal fucking retard, I wouldn't put it past him at this point. Not saying he's going to, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did, as he seems pretty hell bent on destroying his country with his delusions of grandeur.Not like the Russian government actually has anyone that could stop him if he decided to do something this retarded, but it would be very funny to see.
>>1427855>Honestly he's such a colossal fucking retard,I needed to read the whole comment to realize who you were talking about.
>>1427720Man, I could see it.
President Trump is putting a new flat stick in his golf bag, courtesy of a Ukrainian soldier who shares his love for the game and delivered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.Zelensky presented Trump with a new blade-style putter during his visit to The White House on Monday.The Ukrainian leader told the president that the club was given to him by Kostiantyn Kartavtsev, a junior sergeant in Ukraine’s Armed Forces.The solider lost a leg in the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to the Ukrainian government, noting golf became part of Kartavtsev’s rehabilitation and helped him regain balance “both physically and mentally.”Trump recorded a video for the Ukrainian fighter thanking him for the gift.“I just watched you swing, I know a lot about golf, and your swing is great. You’re going to be a very good golfer soon,” he told the soldier in the clip making the rounds online with Ukrainian subtitles. “I want to thank you for this putter … is made with real love from you.”
>>1427682>>1427855An attack on NATO won't be like the Cold War, where a Soviet armored spearhead will thunder through the Fulda gap.It will be a lowest threshold aggression where he thinks he can get away with it. If he occupies some empty field in Finland or a border village in Estonia with a couple of green men and that causes enough NATO infighting for Article 5 to lose credibility, because "Why should I sacrifice the lives of my people for some swamplan in Finland?" that's more than enough for him.And if it doesn't he can just pull back and say it wasn't him.>>1427680This and also it will set the new status-quo that wars of aggression for land grabs are worth it again. Especially if you're a nuclear power and can leverage that to deter support to whoever you're invading. Not really a future I'm keen on living in.
