The positions of the US, Ukraine and Russia are gradually becoming clearer ahead of possible talks to stop the war. But at the moment the leaders of these countries are very far apart with radically different demands and views on how the end of the war should look like, write focus.de and Tagesspiegel.
What does Trump want?
Donald Trump wants to go down in history as the president who stopped the war in Ukraine. Trump's goal of ending the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, as he claimed in his campaign, turned out to be an empty campaign promise. However, after Trump's re-election, there seems to be some movement in the diplomatic process. There have now been repeated public statements about possible negotiations by the US, Ukraine and Russia.
Details of Trump’s ideas for a path to peace remain scarce. Ukraine and Russia must be forced to the negotiating table by pressure. That also exhausts the US president’s current threats to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The White House has threatened tariffs and sanctions, but Moscow has been largely unimpressed.
What does Zelensky want?
Trump’s peace plan also does not include US troops on Ukrainian soil. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky apparently has a very different view. “It won’t work without the United States,” Zelensky told the World Economic Forum in Davos, referring to the international peacekeeping forces deployed in Ukraine under an agreement. There is currently no agreement between the US and Ukraine on the issue of troops. In Europe, it also seems that it is still unclear which country can send how many of its soldiers. The next problem is the borders.
Zelensky said that Ukraine currently does not have the strength to take back the occupied territories, but will “never“ recognize them as a legitimate part of the Russian Federation, including Crimea. And here comes the big discrepancy with Moscow's position.
What does Putin want?
In short, the capitulation of Ukraine. Many international experts agree that with his invasion of Ukraine, Putin did not want to just occupy part of the country, but to absorb it. Presidential advisor Nikolai Patrushev, for example, recently stated that Ukraine will cease to exist as an independent state in 2025.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the other hand, pointed out that there cannot be any military bases in Ukraine, which rules out the possibility of international peacekeeping forces. [The reality of] the front line must also be accepted, Lavrov said. This means that this shift in national borders will have to be recognized by Ukraine and the conquered territories will have to be ceded to Russia. Something that Kiev has refused to recognize.
Although there has been some progress since Trump took office towards the possibility of starting negotiations, the end of the war in Ukraine currently seems very far away. The positions of Trump, Zelensky, and Putin are very far from each other.