Trump says Putin may not want to make a deal on Ukraine
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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (Aug 19) he hoped Russia’s Vladimir Putin would move forward on ending the war in Ukraine but admitted the Kremlin leader may not want to make a deal at all, adding this would create a “rough situation” for Putin.
Trump also said the US would not put troops on the ground in Ukraine but might provide air support as part of any post-war peace settlement.
In an interview with Fox News’ Fox & Friends programme, Trump said he believed Putin’s course of action would become clear in the next couple of weeks. “When it comes to security, (Europeans) are willing to put people on the ground. We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, by air,” he said, without elaborating.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem (reaching a peace deal), to be honest with you. I think Putin is tired of it. I think they’re all tired of it, but you never know,” Trump said.
“We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks ... It’s possible that he doesn’t want to make a deal,” said Trump, who has previously threatened more sanctions on Russia and nations that buy its oil if Putin does not make peace.
SECURITY GUARANTEES IN QUESTION
Ukraine and its European allies have been buoyed by Trump’s promise of security guarantees during an extraordinary summit on Monday but face many unanswered questions, including how willing Russia will be to play ball.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that US air support was “an option and a possibility” but, like Trump, did not provide further details. “The President has definitively stated US boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies,” she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the White House talks as a “major step forward” towards ending Europe’s deadliest conflict in 80 years and setting up a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump in the coming weeks.
Zelenskiy was joined at the summit by the leaders of Germany, France and Britain. His warm rapport with Trump contrasted sharply with their disastrous Oval Office meeting in February.
But the path to peace remains uncertain and Zelenskiy may be forced to make painful compromises. Analysts say more than a million people have been killed or wounded since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
RUSSIA LAUNCHES LARGEST ATTACK THIS MONTH
While the Washington talks allowed for a temporary sense of relief in Kyiv, fighting raged on. Russia launched 270 drones and 10 missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, the largest this month.
The energy ministry said Russia had targeted energy facilities in the central Poltava region, home to Ukraine’s only oil refinery, sparking large fires.
Ukrainian officials said Russia also returned the bodies of 1,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday, while Moscow received 19 bodies of its own troops in return, according to state-run news agency TASS.
REACTIONS FROM ALLIES
“The good news (from Monday’s summit) is that there was no blow-up. Trump didn’t demand Ukrainian capitulation nor cut off support. The mood music was positive and the trans-Atlantic alliance lives on,” John Foreman, a former British defence attache to Kyiv and Moscow, told Reuters.
“On the downside, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the nature of security guarantees and what exactly the US has in mind.”
Ukraine’s allies held talks in the “Coalition of the Willing” format on Tuesday, discussing additional sanctions to increase pressure on Russia. Planning teams will meet US counterparts in the coming days to advance security guarantee plans.
NATO military leaders were expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss Ukraine, with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, due to attend virtually, officials said.
“We are now actively working at all levels on the specifics, on what the architecture of the guarantees will look like, with all members of the Coalition of the Willing, and very concretely with the United States,” Zelenskiy said on social media platform X.
MOSCOW HESITATES ON MEETING
Russia has made no explicit commitment to a meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow did not reject any formats for peace talks but any leaders’ summit “must be prepared with utmost thoroughness”.
Putin has said Russia will not tolerate NATO troops in Ukraine and has shown no sign of backing down from demands for territory, including land not under Moscow’s control, following his Alaska summit with Trump last week.
Analysts say Moscow could drag out negotiations while seeking to avoid being cast as the obstacle to Trump’s peace push.
“They’re all tiptoeing around Trump to avoid any blame,” said Neil Melvin of the Royal United Services Institute. “Both Ukraine and its European allies on one side and Russia on the other are striving not to present themselves to Trump as the obstacle to his peace process,” he added.
“The problem is that what Trump has said is so vague it’s very hard to take it seriously.”
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