Former President Donald Trump recently expressed that no progress will occur regarding peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine until he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His words came at time of powerful personal reflection. His daughter Tiffany Trump just had her first baby, a boy, making Donald Trump a grandfather for the 11th time.
In 2016, Trump announced his desire to meet with Putin. He took the opportunity to reaffirm how important it is to begin direct negotiations as quickly as possible, once conditions are met. He urged Russia and Ukraine to open peace talks. He even proposed to fly to Turkey himself to participate directly in negotiations. Trump was very negative on the prospects if he didn’t attend the negotiations.
“Nothing is going to happen until…” – Donald Trump
Trump said that if he wasn’t going, he could be sure that Putin wouldn’t come either. Ultimately, both leaders decided to avoid attending the summit in person, an absence that’s left many questioning the future of those negotiations.
On the foreign policy side, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, was in Turkey for talks. Still, analysts are not anticipating a deliberative three-way meeting among the U.S., Ukraine and Russia. The ongoing situation complicates matters further as Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky indicated they were there “on behalf of the president… to hold direct bilateral talks with Ukraine without preconditions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was quick to respond to Putin’s call for one-on-one meetings. He stood his ground and continued to insist on only meeting Putin face-to-face. He’s named his newly appointed defense minister, Rustem Umarov, to head Ukraine’s negotiating team. This delegation has had a hard time, still missing from between Ankara and Istanbul for most of the day.
Zelensky’s willingness to meet one-on-one with Putin adds to a compelling new chapter in the still-unfolding battle of wills and wayward acts. In many ways, this follows through on Trump’s heavily-scrutinized remarks last week about direct communication being the only way to achieve peace.
“I think it’s time for us to just do it… I guarantee Putin is not going, and he didn’t go.” – Donald Trump
As the geopolitical order realigns, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz turned on a dime to denounce Putin for skipping the Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul. He promised new sanctions on Moscow, making the prospect of a peaceful resolution even harder.
“A new sanctions package is ready. We will adopt it in Brussels on Tuesday.” – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
As UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer put it this week, “the slate of a plan is not the way to go about it.” He called those elements “the obstacles to peace.” This touches upon an increasing frustration amongst Western leaders over the stalled state of negotiations and the ongoing violence.
In response to the escalating tensions and violence, one Ukrainian individual stated, “We would very much like to see a truce, but with this enemy, there will be none.” Sadly, this sentiment reveals just how bad things are on the ground as civilian casualties continue to rise.
With both Trump and Zelensky’s attendance at the talks now in question, pundits have begun to make guesses. They want to know—and not for what it’s worth—why they may be missing. One unverified source remarked, “He didn’t show up because he heard Putin wasn’t going,” implying a lack of confidence in the negotiations.
As talks collapse, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio dialed back hopes for any upcoming summit. He spoke to doubts he had that we would see significant reform coming out of this unprecedented time.
“We don’t have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow.” – Marco Rubio
Ultimately, the failure of key leaders to attend critical peace talks raises concerns about the resolution of ongoing conflicts and humanitarian crises. The world remains riveted as this multilateral drama unfolds and awaits signs of a thaw in tensions between the key players.
