Trump is withdrawing from the negotiation process amid escalating mutual strikes between Ukraine and Russia – ABC News
Kyiv • UNN
The Trump administration remains silent on the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. This may indicate a shift in the US approach to mediating the war.
The administration of US President Donald Trump remained noticeably silent amid the exchange of strikes between Ukraine and Russia and the second round of negotiations.
This may signal a subtle shift in the US approach to mediating the conflict, reports ABC News, writes UNN.
Details
The publication notes that President Donald Trump did not show an immediate public reaction to Ukraine's drone strikes deep inside Russia. This happened immediately before the Ukrainian and Russian delegations met face-to-face in Istanbul.
The negotiations largely followed the format established by the Trump administration, when representatives of both countries met in May for the first time since the early months of the war.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was present at the initial discussions, which the US quickly dismissed as frustrating because Russia decided to send only a working group of diplomats to represent its interests at the negotiating table.
But this time, Rubio and other senior Trump administration officials played an even smaller role in the negotiations and had even lower expectations.
According to the State Department, Rubio had a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, where he "reiterated President Trump's call for continued direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to achieve a lasting peace." However, in the transcript of the conversation, the department noted that the conversation took place at Lavrov's request.
The second round of negotiations was short and ended without any significant breakthrough.
Disappointed but not surprised
After the completion of the negotiations, American officials told ABC News that they were disappointed but not surprised by the substantial list of demands that Russia demanded to be fulfilled before it agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, stating. They reported that these demands contained a number of points that both Ukraine and the Trump administration considered impossible, calling it a clear attempt by Moscow to delay meaningful negotiations.
Even before the latest negotiations, President Trump's frustration with the lack of progress towards peace was growing. Officials familiar with his thinking say that while he previously criticised both Ukraine and Russia, in recent days he has become increasingly detached.
Trump had previously threatened to impose new sanctions on Moscow, but after the second round of negotiations ended on Monday, there was no sign that the administration had taken any action to fulfil its threat.
Sanctions against Russia
A bipartisan group of senators led by South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham promises to push legislation this week that would impose a 500% tariff on any country that buys energy products from Moscow. Graham and Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal discussed this strategy with President Zelenskyy last weekend in Kyiv.
But so far, Trump has not taken any action, and Russia continues to strike Ukraine.
Earlier on Sunday, Moscow deployed a record 472 one-way combat drones, as well as several ballistic and cruise missiles, against the country. Moscow is also optimistic about its position on the battlefield ahead of the warm summer months, seeing ample opportunities to claim additional Ukrainian territory and negotiating advantages before seriously seeking any settlement.
Public statements by Russian officials continue to demonstrate that Russia has broader territorial goals in Ukraine, beyond the four regions that Russia has illegally declared annexed
This analysis also notes that Moscow remains uninterested "in good-faith negotiations to reach a diplomatic settlement of the war."
On Monday, Zelenskyy told ABC's chief international correspondent Martha Raddatz that his country would continue to resist Russia as long as the war continued.
If they don't stop, we will continue. We expect very decisive steps from President Trump to support sanctions and force President Putin to stop this war
But on Monday, at the White House, spokeswoman Carolina Levitt responded to the latest developments in the conflict by merely repeating Trump's calls for peace. "Look, the reaction is that this war needs to end.
The president wants this war to end at the negotiating table, and he has made that clear to both leaders, both publicly and privately," she said.