Donald Trump takes charge of peace in Ukraine
Donald Trump has arrived with momentum at the Presidency of the United States.
After some initial moves related to optimising the US Administration at all levels, through the action of his ally Elon Musk, and with the imposition of harsh tariffs on products imported into the United States from practically all over the world, strategies aimed at resolving the two major armed conflicts currently underway arrived: the Gaza and Ukraine wars.
With the contacts established in his incipient second presidential term, Donald Trump was already one of the bulwarks for establishing the currently fragile truce in the Strip that has brought about the cessation of hostilities for the moment between the Palestinian extremist group Hamas and Israel.
Now it is the turn of the war in Ukraine. In this context, Donald Trump has already made official contact with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and Volodimir Zelenski, the president of Ukraine, to explore the path towards the pacification of an armed conflict that has now been going on for three years.
Donald Trump wants to start peace negotiations after these telephone contacts, which were confirmed by Kiev and Moscow. The US president confirmed an agreement with the Russian president in a message posted on his social networks, in which he indicated that the pact had been reached after a ‘long and very productive phone call’.
The Kremlin confirmed that ‘the issue of a solution in Ukraine was addressed’. After his contact with Putin, Trump later spoke with the Ukrainian president, who also expressed his willingness to achieve ‘a lasting peace’.
‘We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other's nations. We also agreed to have our teams begin negotiations immediately,’ the US president said of his call with Putin. In this situation, the US president said the talks will be a ‘success’. He also indicated that his first face-to-face meeting with the Russian leader could take place in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has indicated that Vladimir Putin has invited Donald Trump to the Russian capital for talks.
The US leader believes that an end must be put to a war that has resulted in ‘completely unnecessary mass death and destruction’.
Entrenched conflict
The war in Ukraine continues to be entrenched after three years. Russian invading troops are making slow progress in a long war of attrition in the Donbas and the Ukrainian army, supported by Western intelligence services and war supplies, is engaged in a major duel with the Russian Armed Forces in the Kursk border region. The Kursk offensive began on 6 August 2024 when the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a raid on the Kursk Oblast in Russian territory, and, following this offensive, Russia continues to refuse to exchange Kursk for territories invaded from Ukraine following the latest proposal made by Volodimir Zelenski.
Recently, the Kremlin categorically rejected the possibility of exchanging the land control of Ukrainian troops in an important area of the Russian region of Kursk for the return of the Ukrainian territories that Russia currently occupies after the invasion that began in February 2022. A proposal launched by the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, in the event of possible negotiations, during an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian.
Ukraine is also already using the long-range weapons supplied by the West and Russia continues to count on the support of thousands of North Korean soldiers who were being trained by the Russian Army.
Given the political drift the issue is taking, from the point of view of the European Western allies, there is considerable concern about how Donald Trump is conducting negotiations directly with Vladimir Putin, considered in many circles to be an authoritarian leader who unleashed a very dangerous war on European territory through an illegal invasion internationally condemned by many countries. From nations such as Germany or Belgium there have already been official comments against these contacts made by Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin.
