Europe sees Putin forcing Trump into a tough choice on Ukraine - Bloomberg
Kyiv • UNN
European officials believe Trump will face a difficult decision regarding the war in Ukraine. Putin demands the lifting of sanctions in exchange for a ceasefire.
European officials say that US President Donald Trump will soon face a "difficult decision" in his desire to end Russia's war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reports, UNN writes.
Details
After three days of negotiations in Saudi Arabia that ended on Tuesday, Russian officials said they wanted some sanctions eased before imposing a ceasefire regime in the Black Sea, which thwarted US plans to quickly reach a larger deal.
The US president has promised to achieve a quick end to the war in Ukraine as a sign of his negotiating prowess, and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin "seems to be using this public stance against him", some European officials said.
"It seems that Moscow intends to continue the discussion and limit the scope of negotiations in order to force the United States to make concessions," officials said. Trump's decision to link relations with Moscow to other US problems, such as Iran and China, also gave Putin leverage, they added.
"All this means that the US leader may be forced to make a choice," officials said: "he can start putting pressure on Russia or make increasingly significant concessions to Putin in order to meet the deadline he himself set for the cessation of hostilities."
"I think Russia wants to put an end to this, but maybe they are dragging out the time," Trump said in an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a ceasefire in the Black Sea, the US said on Tuesday. The Kremlin confirmed the agreement, but said it was conditional on the lifting of sanctions on banks and companies involved in agricultural exports - key points that are missing from the US statements.
The Trump administration has previously made it clear to allies that it will not lift restrictions on trade with Russia until the end of the war, although easing sanctions is likely to be part of any agreement, the publication writes.
"After Russia presented its demands for lifting sanctions at these negotiations, it will demand that future agreements include similar guarantees of specific benefits, not just vague mutual concessions," according to one person familiar with the Kremlin's thinking.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on Tuesday that Russia is using Trump's desire to achieve a ceasefire as an opportunity to insert its demands into agreements that were supposed to be unconditional.
European officials said on Tuesday evening that "the ceasefire is not in effect on the ground and the details have not yet been agreed."
During parallel negotiations in Saudi Arabia with the Ukrainian and Russian delegations this week, US officials sought to ensure an immediate ceasefire at sea and an end to attacks on energy infrastructure.
However, Moscow made its participation in the Black Sea agreement dependent on a number of preconditions, including the lifting of sanctions. The Kremlin said in a statement that the moratorium on energy strikes took effect on March 18 for 30 days.
The entire Black Sea agreement has a secret goal - to start lifting US sanctions against Russia
Currently, there is virtually no military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea, as Kyiv has forced the Kremlin to move its ships with a series of attacks using naval drones, the publication notes.
Zelenskyy's aide Dmytro Lytvyn said on social network X that at least eight Ukrainian energy facilities have been hit since March 18. Every night Russia launches a mass of drones, and Ukraine shoots down some of them, but does not know what they are targeting, he said.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is aiming to achieve a full ceasefire as early as April 20. But European officials said that "this looks increasingly ambitious." "Given the current status of negotiations, it will take months to work out the details of a final agreement," they said.
Despite Trump's efforts, Putin's core demands have not changed, according to Western officials. They include the desire to neutralize the Ukrainian military, annex territories that Moscow has occupied and illegally declared Russian, and stop the supply of weapons to Kyiv, the publication writes.
European officials said they "hope that Trump will eventually conclude that Putin is not reasonable or sincere in his desire for a lasting peace agreement." However, officials said that "the US president's desire for a quick settlement makes it difficult to predict what decision he will ultimately make."
Trump has repeatedly stated that he believes both Putin and Zelenskyy would like to end the fighting and that he personally wants to end both the violence and US spending on aid to Kyiv.
"I just want it to stop," Trump told Newsmax. "I also don't want to pay."
Reminder
Following the results of a new meeting in Riyadh, the White House stated that the US and Ukraine agreed to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea.
In a separate statement after the US-Russia talks, the White House also indicated that the US and Russia, following the talks in Saudi Arabia, agreed to ensure safe navigation.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the statements "differ slightly". According to the results of the meetings of the American and Ukrainian sides in Riyadh, one of the 5 points in the joint statement concerns the return of children, captured soldiers and civilians, in the Russian statement - the issue of ports and assistance with the transportation of Russian agricultural products, which the President assessed as a weakening of sanctions.
Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov noted that Russia's moving its warships outside the eastern part of the Black Sea will be considered a violation of the spirit of the agreement and will be considered as a violation of obligations to ensure freedom of navigation in the Black Sea and a threat to the national security of Ukraine. In this case, Ukraine will have the full right to exercise the right to self-defense, Umerov stressed.
