Just 24 hours after President Donald Trump took office, both sides put forward new conditions for peace talks. Ukrainian president Zelenskiy on the 21st at the Davos Forum called for the deployment of at least 200,000 European allies to implement the peace agreement. In addition to reaffirming the previously announced conditions for peace talks, Russian presidential foreign policy assistant Ushatkov said on the same day that Russia was prepared to hold dialogue with the United States on the Ukrainian crisis, that is, if Washington sends a signal. The positions of Russia and Ukraine on the peace talks are still contradictory. Neither Russia nor Ukraine nor western public opinion believes that the conflict can be stopped in the short term. It was reminiscent of Donald Trump’s campaign promise to resolve the Ukrainian crisis within 24 hours of taking office. (CNN) — “Donald Trump has missed the CNN to resolve the Ukrainian crisis,” he said Tuesday
Ukrainian president Zelenskiy attended the Davos Forum on Friday. (visual China)
“That’s the bare minimum.”
With Donald Trump officially in the White House, Zelenskiy has turned more to European support. The day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, “Will president Donald Trump pay attention to Europe, will he see NATO as necessary, will he respect EU institutions,” Zelenskiy asked in a speech at Davos, warning, russia has mobilised 600,000 troops in Ukraine and could deploy 1.5 m, several times more than any other European army. So instead of asking what Donald Trump will do next, European leaders need to take steps to“Defend themselves” before an aggressive Russian attack. Zelenskiy called for EU countries to spend more on defence and to“Unite against the Russians”.
Zelenskiy said at least 200,000 European allies would be needed as a peacekeeping force to implement any peace agreement, according to the Guardian, “That’s the minimum.”. Britain’s“Independent” said 200,000 soldiers is about the size of the entire French armed forces. Zelenskiy also predicted that the Russians would demand a five-fold reduction in the size of the Ukrainian army, “But we will not allow that to happen”.
Zelenskiy stressed that any peace deal depended on Western security guarantees and that NATO membership was the“Best Guarantee”. He criticised many Western promises to bring Ukraine into NATO as still empty words. Zelenskiy said he planned to increase the number of Ukrainian armed forces to 1m if the country did not receive clear security guarantees from the west, and he asked for European financial assistance to do so, for“Ukraine is defending not only itself but also European values”.
In response to Zelenskiy’s demand, the World Economic Forum website quoted EU Trade Commissioner Dombrovskis as saying the EU should provide more arms. “When it comes to military supplies, we have to do more for Ukraine,” he said. “That is very important now. We have to provide more weapons.”
Markoff, a Russian political scientist, was quoted as saying that Zelenskiy was trying to provoke European pressure on the new president, which was almost a direct“Don’t listen to Donald Trump”. Markoff said Zelenskiy had sent a clear message to EU leaders that the US would not respect their interests unless they shouldered the main responsibility of supporting the Ukrainians against the Russians, nor will the US in future invite Europe to negotiations on a resolution of the Ukraine crisis. How Will Donald Trump respond? People are waiting to see.
Donald Trump, put pressure on both sides
“Donald Trump has missed the deadline to resolve the Ukrainian crisis,” CNN said Tuesday, citing Donald Trump’s reluctance to mention the conflict in his inaugural speech, underlining how difficult the challenge of ending the crisis in Ukraine will be for the new president.
But Donald Trump mentioned Putin when asked about it by reporters at the White House yesterday. “He [ Putin ] should make a deal and I think he is destroying Russia by not making a deal,” he said, as Donald Trump focused his pressure on the economic and human cost of the conflict in Ukraine. “I think Russia is going to be in big trouble. You look at their economy and their inflation rate, which is close to 10 percent,” he said, referring to Western estimates of 700,000 Russian military casualties in the conflict. Donald Trump warned that Putin could tighten sanctions if he refused to negotiate an end to the Ukrainian crisis. But he added that he would meet Putin“Probably soon”.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump signed a number of executive orders after taking office, including suspending all foreign aid programs for 90 days, the Associated Press reported Wednesday, pending review to determine compatibility with the foreign policy objectives of the new administration. “The United States will not provide further foreign assistance in a manner inconsistent with the President’s foreign policy,” Donald Trump declared. Reported that Donald Trump has long been opposed to foreign aid, he has also been critical of military aid to the Ukrainians.
According to the Ukrainian“Kyiv Post” reported that the news, the Ukrainian anti-disinformation center director Valentin Kovalenko said the freeze of military aid to the Ukrainian does not apply to this executive order. “Since Donald Trump’s executive order applies to international assistance under UN agency development programmes, peacekeeping operations and refugee support programmes, military assistance to Ukraine will not be affected,” he said, reported that the United States has not yet confirmed this situation, so military assistance to Ukraine may still be under review.
Political News said that, even without military aid, United States Agency for International Development Reconstruction projects were in trouble. Foreign policy expert at the Center for Economic Strategy, Maxim Samoylyuk, says this will do significant damage to Ukraine, as it includes aid such as rehabilitating bombed-out Ukrainian energy facilities.
According to TASS on the 22nd, Ukrainian journalist Borge Kara posted on social media on the 21st that all US Defense Department staff responsible for the Ukrainian direction have been fired, suspended or will be transferred to new positions, so there will definitely be changes, there will be a new relationship. Karla said he got the information from a reporter at the Washington Post.
U. S. , Ukrainian and Russian media are not optimistic about ending the conflict
Regarding peace talks, Ushatkov, a foreign policy aide to the Russian president, said Tuesday that Russia is ready to hold talks with the United States on the Ukrainian crisis, but only if Washington sends relevant signals, Izvestia reported. He said Moscow has yet to receive concrete proposals from Trump’s team to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, “These proposals can lay the foundation for a dialogue between the leaders of the two countries. We will clarify our position on the US proposal,” he said.
RIA Novosti said that on the 20th, “We are open to dialogue with the new American administration on the Ukrainian conflict,” Putin told a Russian security council meeting. The most important thing here is to address the root causes of the crisis. As far as the resolution of the situation itself is concerned, I would like to stress once again that the objective should not be a short-term ceasefire, nor should it be to give Ukraine some breathing space to redeploy its forces and rearm in order to continue the conflict in the future, but a long-term peace based on respect for the legitimate interests of all peoples and nationalities living in the region.”
Russian“View” 22 quoted political scientist Danielin’s analysis, the U.S. regime change may bring new opportunities to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. The Russians are ready to discuss a solution with the Donald Trump administration, but the US needs to take Russian interests into account. “Russia has made it clear that it is not interested in a short-term cease-fire,” he said. Russia needs a comprehensive solution, which can only be achieved by addressing the root causes of the current crisis. Russia needs the neutrality of Ukraine, which legislates against Nazi ideology and recognises our sovereignty over the new territories. Real peace can only last if all these factors on the Russian side are taken into account.”
At present, the media of the United States, Ukraine and Russia all seem to be less optimistic about ending the Ukrainian crisis in the short term. There will probably be ceasefire talks in 2025, but finding a deal to end the war will not be easy, according to Vox News. The final phase of resolving the Ukraine crisis could turn out to be not just a battle for territory but also a war of attrition, both for soldiers on the ground and diplomats in the conference room, the report said. It is only a matter of time before someone is willing to make a compromise that is currently considered unacceptable, but when that happens may not be up to Donald Trump.
A lasting peace deal with Russia may not be as simple as Donald Trump suggested, the Kiev independent said Tuesday. Does Donald Trump really have a peace plan for the country? This is questionable. The change in the time frame for what he called a resolution of the Ukraine crisis reflects this uncertainty. The U. S. doesn’t have a deep understanding of Ukraine and European security. Donald Trump’s recent comments about the Canadian, Greenlandic and Panamanian canals suggest he intends to extract quid pro quos from Putin. That mentality underlines Donald Trump’s approach to trading, in which the Ukrainians risk being sold out.
TASS news agency quoted experts as saying on the 22nd, Russia does not believe that with the new Donald Trump administration, the conflict will soon be resolved. He or his team were not seen to have any concrete plans to end the war. There must be mutually acceptable conditions for the settlement of the Russian-ukrainian conflict. At present, however, the positions of the two sides are diametrically opposed. Nor will Donald Trump be allowed to end the Ukrainian crisis. U. S. foreign policy is dominated by arms companies, who see the war as profitable.