What the Trump-Zelensky meeting showed
US President Donald Trump's ambition to end the war in Ukraine with a peace agreement this year will remain unfulfilled. Sunday's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Trump's Florida residence Mar-a-Lago did not bring a breakthrough either.
What did it show? Zelensky's claim that the twenty-point peace plan, which was supposed to be approved by Washington for ninety percent, was more of a Kyiv vision of peace than a reality. Trump's words actually showed that the plan does not have his support, which is also a message to Europeans. This is to accommodate the Kremlin, which has also rejected the plan. Thus, the Kyiv Post's forecast that it would be a "high-risk behavior" for Zelensky in Florida was confirmed.
The key point of disagreement remains Ukraine's disagreement with Russia's demand for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire territory of Donbass. At the same time, it can be deduced from Trump's words that he insists on Kyiv's territorial concessions. He argues that a referendum should be held on them and other controversial points of the peace plan (such as the resignation from NATO membership). To the Americans, however, this obviously seems like a long and risky process. They suggest that approval by the parliament will suffice. Trump has even said that he is ready to speak in person in front of lawmakers in support of the peace plan if necessary.
The Ukrainian president is undoubtedly in a very complicated situation. The country is facing further Russian attacks, mainly on energy infrastructure, but as you can see, the Americans do not intend to toughen up on Russia because of this, because they want to "restore strategic stability" in relations with Russia, according to the diction of the new national security strategy. Kyiv had to be alert last week in connection with the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry that there is "slow but steady progress" in negotiations with the United States on Ukraine. Isn't there some parallel negotiations between the Americans and the Russians going on behind the scenes?
In addition, Trump spoke for more than an hour with Russian President Vladimir Putin before meeting with Zelensky, with another phone call expected to follow soon. Thus, Zelensky cannot be sure of American support and at home he has to face the dilemma of how far he can retreat in peace negotiations so as not to be labeled a traitor.
And perhaps it is no coincidence that before the negotiations in Florida, Ukraine's anti-corruption authorities, which have American backing, struck again by "exposing a criminal group committing corruption", which also includes one member of parliament close to Zelensky. Isn't this part of the pressure on the president to be more accommodating to concessions in peace negotiations?
How long they may last is difficult to predict now. "I think we're in the very final stages of negotiations, and we'll see," Trump said, adding, "either it's over or it's going to take a long time and millions more people are going to be killed." Optimism is thus mixed with pessimism.
Miloš Balabán, Právo Daily