Ceasefire in Ukraine still not achieved and Trump will meet with Putin
Steve Witkoff, special envoy for international policy to US President Donald Trump, travelled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to explore a possible ceasefire in Ukraine before the deadline of Trump's ultimatum to Putin, which is this Friday.
The meeting between Witkoff and Putin lasted about three hours and took place in a friendly atmosphere.The content of the talks was not disclosed in detail, but no ceasefire option was announced, suggesting that Vladimir Putin has not budged an inch on his expansionist claims in Ukrainian territory.
Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to the Russian president, which expires on Friday 8 August, to agree to a mediated deal with Ukraine. If the deadline passes without an agreement, there could be direct economic sanctions against Russia or indirect sanctions against other countries related to oil and gas trade, Russia's main sources of financing.
Following a stalemate in talks, Russia confirmed that a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will take place next week to discuss the war in Ukraine, although it remains unclear whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend, as proposed by the United States.
Donald Trump has always been quite confident that he would reach some kind of agreement with Vladimir Putin, given the good rapport between the two leaders, which was evident during the first Trump administration. Since returning to the presidency, Donald Trump has been confident that he can convince Vladimir Putin, but the latter has remained reluctant to give ground on his demands for an agreement, which has made the US president nervous, leading him to toughen his rhetoric and threaten economic sanctions against the European country.
The US leader is struggling with mediation efforts in ongoing conflicts, such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, where he had high hopes of achieving rapid peace processes in both cases, which would have greatly improved the Republican president's image, even giving him a chance to win the Nobel Peace Prize. However, far from these objectives, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza continue with no sign of an easy peace agreement.
‘My special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has just had a very productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great progress has been made! I then briefed some of our European allies,’ Donald Trump said on social media, but it seems that the reality is quite different.
According to sources close to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin could offer an air truce to halt the drone attacks and bombings that are causing so much damage on Ukrainian soil. However, it appears that a comprehensive ceasefire is still a long way off.
Therefore, the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues after it began in February 2022, with Russia's goal of regaining territories it claims as a historical right for the Russian Federation, such as Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, in addition to the Crimean peninsula, which was already annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukraine continues to demand the return of these enclaves so that they remain part of the Ukrainian state in the face of Russian military aggression, which has been condemned by much of the international community as an attack on the territory of a sovereign state.
The United States, especially under former President Joe Biden, NATO and the European Union (EU) have all shown their full support for Ukraine, even providing weapons and tactical support to help the Ukrainian army. This has levelled the playing field and the armed conflict is now at a standstill, with little chance of progress on either side.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also pressured by Donald Trump to seek a rapprochement with Russia, but with little success, even after the unfortunate image of the heated dialogue between Trump and Zelensky at the White House. Although the Ukrainian leader has always been willing to meet with Putin, this has been ruled out by the Kremlin until the latest announcement by spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who acknowledged that the Russian president would now be open to a personal meeting under certain conditions, including prior preparation for the summit by experts from both sides.
Donald Trump announced his intention to meet with Vladimir Putin and Volodimir Zelenski next week following the trip to Moscow by envoy Witkoff, and Russia has confirmed the meeting between Trump and Putin, pending Zelenski's attendance. It remains to be seen whether this upcoming meeting can break the deadlock in negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
