{"id":418722,"date":"2025-02-13T16:40:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T15:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/02\/13\/trump-putin-zelensky-negoziati-pace-nato\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T19:40:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T18:40:17","slug":"trump-talks-to-putin-and-zelensky-while-europe-stands-idly-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/02\/13\/trump-talks-to-putin-and-zelensky-while-europe-stands-idly-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump talks to Putin (and Zelensky), while Europe stands idly by"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – Suddenly, the end of the war in Ukraine seems closer<\/strong>. This is the effect of Donald Trump<\/strong>‘s return to the White House. Catching allies by surprise, the U.S. president has talked to\u00a0his counterparts Vladimir Putin<\/strong> and Volodymyr Zelensky<\/strong>, both of whom would be willing to start peace talks<\/strong> as soon as possible. By taking the fate of the three-year war directly into its\u00a0own hands, Washington is making it clear to the Europeans that from now on they will have to take greater responsibility<\/strong> for the security of the Old Continent. And that they can no longer take U.S. help for granted.<\/p>\n

The conversation with Putin<\/h3>\n

The news broke last night (Feb. 12) like a time bomb.\u00a0Taking half the world by storm, U.S. President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/strong>\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0he had had\u00a0a telephone conversation<\/strong>\u00a0with his Russian counterpart\u00a0Vladimir Putin<\/strong>, the first publicly confirmed conversation between the two since the tycoon’s re-swearing-in.<\/span>\u00a0In the approximately 90-minute phone call, the leaders discussed\u00a0how to end the war<\/strong>\u00a0raging in Ukraine for nearly three years.<\/p>\n

“I think we are on the road to peace<\/strong>,” Trump said. “We have agreed to work together, very closely, including by visiting each other’s nations,” has\u00a0written<\/a> the White House tenant on his social Truth<\/i>, adding that he found the Kremlin chief’s backing to “get our respective teams to begin negotiations<\/strong> immediately.”<\/p>\n

\"Vladimir<\/a>
Russian President Vladimir Putin (photo via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“People didn’t really know what President Putin’s thoughts were,” he added, “but I think I can say with great confidence that he also wants to see an end to this war<\/strong>,” called “ridiculous” in another passage. “We will work to bring it to an end, and as quickly as possible,” he assured, suggesting that a first high-level meeting could take place soon in Saudi Arabia<\/strong>. Putin himself has invited<\/a> his U.S. counterpart to go<\/strong>\u00a0to Moscow to negotiate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The call with Zelensky<\/h3>\n

Right afterwards, Trump also called Ukrainian President\u00a0Volodymyr Zelensky<\/strong>\u00a0to inform him of his conversation with the authoritarian leader of the country attacking Kyiv.\u00a0I think President Putin wants peace, President Zelensky wants peace, and I want peace,”\u00a0<\/span>he\u00a0told <\/span><\/a>reporters in the Oval Office.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The leader of the former Soviet republic declared that “no one wants peace more than Ukraine<\/strong>,” adding that “together with the United States, we will define the next steps <\/strong>to end Russian aggression and\u00a0ensure a lasting and reliable peace<\/strong>.” Trying to put on a good face, Zelensky expressed confidence that “America’s strength is sufficient to put pressure on Russia and Putin<\/strong> to achieve peace.”<\/p>\n

For Kyiv, the change of administration in Washington was impactful. The Ukrainians were not consulted<\/strong> by Trump’s team before the call<\/a> to Putin. A sharp departure from the mantra, tirelessly repeated by the entourage<\/i> of the previous president Joe Biden<\/strong>, of not discussing “anything about Ukraine without Ukraine”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Volodymyr<\/a>
Il presidente ucraino Volodymyr Zelensky (foto via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Negotiations imminent?<\/h3>\n

Trump also announced that his Vice President James David Vance<\/strong> and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/strong> will hold ceasefire talks during the Munich Security Conference<\/strong>, scheduled for Feb. 14\u201316. Washington’s negotiating team will include CIA Director John Ratcliffe<\/strong>, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz<\/strong> and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff<\/strong> (while Keith Kellogg<\/strong>, who is also Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, has been left out).<\/p>\n

This new course of star-studded diplomacy<\/strong> follows a prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington<\/strong> the previous day, seen by the Kremlin as a demonstration of good faith<\/strong> between the two countries. U.S. teacher Marc Fogel<\/strong> was\u00a0<\/a>exchanged\u00a0<\/a>for<\/span>\u00a0Alexander Vinnik<\/strong>, a Russian money launderer who was in prison on computer crimes charges.<\/p>\n

What peace for Kyiv?<\/h3>\n

The<\/strong>\u00a0war in the former Soviet republic began 15 years ago<\/strong>.\u00a0After the events of Euromaidan, in early 2014, Russia\u00a0took control of Crimea<\/strong>\u00a0and supported the\u00a0Donbas separatist militias<\/strong>, and then integrated them into the regular army in September 2022, when in a referendum never recognised by the West, it\u00a0annexed the (partially) occupied Ukrainian regions<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0Kyiv, which has long failed to achieve significant\u00a0success on the ground within its borders, captured\u00a0a small portion of territory in the Russian\u00a0<\/strong>oblast’<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0of Kursk last August<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/a><\/figure>\n

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the Ukraine Contact Group meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Feb. 12, 2025 (photo: NATO)<\/p>\n

This, in a nutshell, is the situation from which ceasefire negotiations<\/strong> are to begin, which, in Trump’s hopes, should quickly lead to a lasting truce and a subsequent peace treaty<\/strong>. In this regard, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth<\/strong>\u2014visiting NATO headquarters in Brussels for a two-day Contact Group for Ukraine<\/strong> (whose leadership has just switched from Washington to London) between yesterday and today\u2014was particularly clear<\/a> on at least three issues.<\/p>\n

First,\u00a0Ukraine must give up on regaining all the land that has fallen into Moscow’s hands<\/strong>\u00a0(a corridor from the Donbas to Kherson, extending\u00a0about one-fifth of its territory<\/strong>) and the hope of\u00a0returning to the pre-2014 borders<\/strong>, which Hegseth called an “unrealistic goal<\/strong>. “Pursuing this illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause further suffering,” Hegseth said flatly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second,\u00a0“the United States will not support Kiev’s accession” to the Atlantic Alliance<\/strong>\u00a0“as part of a peace negotiation.” Third, whatever form they take, the infamous\u00a0security guarantees<\/strong>\u00a0long requested by Zelensky<\/a>\u00a0will not involve the U.S. military<\/strong>, and any\u00a0peacekeeping\u00a0mission will have to take place\u00a0outside the NATO umbrella<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For his part, the Ukrainian president is trying to ensure Trump’s continued involvement<\/strong> by offering him a sort\u00a0of preemption<\/a> regarding access to Ukraine’s generous mineral resources<\/strong>. Not coincidentally, in the hours when Hegseth in Brussels was reversing the approach followed by the White House over the past three years, his colleague in charge of the Treasury,\u00a0Scott Bessent,<\/strong> was in Kyiv and pointed out that such a deal<\/strong> (worth an estimated $500 billion) could prove to be a “security shield” for the former Soviet republic<\/strong> once the war is over.<\/p>\n

\"Volodymyr<\/a>
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (photo: European Union)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the history of relations between Russia and Ukraine\u00a0<\/span>is not encouraging<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0In 1994, the\u00a0Budapest Memorandum<\/strong>\u00a0had enshrined Moscow’s commitment to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kyiv<\/strong> in exchange for\u00a0the\u00a0renunciation<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0of Soviet nuclear warheads<\/strong> in the state that had just gained independence.<\/span>\u00a0After the onset of the war in the Donbas, the Minsk Agreements<\/strong> (two separate protocols signed between 2014 and 2015) were supposed to lead to a recomposition of the crisis. Still, they\u00a0remained unimplemented<\/strong> and did not serve to prevent the large-scale invasion of 2022.<\/p>\n

And Europe?<\/h3>\n

The European allies of Kyiv seem to be mainly interested<\/strong> in the stability of any diplomatic solution<\/strong>, as emphasised by the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte<\/strong>, who cited the Minsk protocols as an example of a non-lasting peace.<\/p>\n

But the events of the last few hours have made the Twenty-Seven realize that the tune in Washington has irrevocably changed. No more preemptive consultations between the two sides of the Atlantic<\/strong>, but rather a fait accompli<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>approach and a muscular, transactional posture to international relations. Nothing new, on closer inspection, but what worries European chancelleries is the speed with which the situation has “precipitated”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/a>
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (photo: NATO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The leaders of the Old Continent feel sidelined\u00a0by their powerful ally<\/strong>, whose support is proving less predictable\u00a0than expected. And they try to be vocal. But it is an almost muted voice. The defence ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the UK, and Spain (meeting yesterday in Paris in the Weimar+ format<\/strong>) have reiterated<\/a> like a broken record that Europe must continue to be involved in the peace process in Ukraine<\/strong> and that it is crucial to increase support for Kyiv<\/strong> in order to put it in a strong position.<\/p>\n

Commission Chairwoman Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> has not yet commented on the phone call between Trump and Putin, while Anitta Hipper<\/strong>, spokesperson for the EU Foreign Affairs Executive, stressed<\/a> that “Russia cannot be rewarded for its aggression<\/strong>.” For chief spokeswoman Paula Pinho<\/strong>, the call between the U.S. and Russian leaders marks “the beginning of a process<\/strong>” that will have to be followed closely but whose outcome is not predetermined, regardless of how\u00a0clear it is that “the security of Ukraine is the security of the EU<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

“Peace can only be achieved together<\/strong>: with Ukrainians and with Europeans,” German Annalena Baerbock<\/strong> remarked from the transalpine capital. “If there is peace, we need security guarantees<\/strong> so that it is fair and lasting,” reiterated the host Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot<\/strong>, for whom “we are very much attached to a Ukrainian path to NATO<\/strong>.” More conciliatory with the White House was Italy’s Antonio Tajani<\/strong>, who (absent from the Paris meeting) was keen to emphasize the importance of “the U.S. and Russia getting back to talking to each other at the highest level” as well as the need “for all of us Europeans to work together and united, with the U.S.<\/strong>, to bring peace back to our continent.”<\/p>\n

\n

There will be no just and lasting peace in Ukraine without the Europeans.<\/p>\n

In Paris tonight, I’m bringing together @kajakallas<\/a>, @jmalbares<\/a>, @sikorskiradek<\/a>, @ABaerbock<\/a>, @DavidLammy<\/a>, @KubiliusA<\/a> and @tripodimaria<\/a> to talk about European security and our support for Ukraine. @andrii_sybiha<\/a><\/p>\n

– Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot (@jnbarrot) pic.twitter.com\/SSMlPsBicv<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The problem lies right here.\u00a0Washington does not seem willing to extend its negotiations with Moscow to Brussels<\/strong>\u00a0(or London, which has also been among Ukraine’s staunchest supporters), and it is also unclear what the\u00a0level of Kyiv’s<\/strong>\u00a0involvement will be. Instead, as Hegseth points out, the White House expects the Europeans\u00a0to provide “the bulk of future assistance to Ukraine.<\/strong>“<\/span><\/p>\n

This includes sending\u00a0soldiers to the ceasefire line<\/strong>\u00a0to keep the truce standing, an endeavour that France and Poland have recently begun to discuss. Still, Zelensky believes it is\u00a0destined to fail without U.S. support<\/strong>. Trump actually wants to scale back U.S. engagement in the entire Eurasian quadrant. Hegseth again remarked that it is time for the Europeans to “come out and take responsibility for conventional security on the continent<\/strong>.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. president’s phone calls with counterparts in Russia and Ukraine have caught Brussels off guard, which is in danger of not getting a word in the negotiating process whose start appears imminent. The Twenty-Seven try to raise their voices but seem bound for irrelevance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":418714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[26411,26042,25802,26458,30095,26329,30463,30464,25803,25789],"class_list":["post-418722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-nato-en-7","tag-mark-rule-one","tag-negotiations-of-peace-en","tag-pete-hegseth-en","tag-russia-in-2","tag-ukrainian-en-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418722"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418751,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418722\/revisions\/418751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}