{"id":419049,"date":"2025-02-18T14:24:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T13:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/02\/18\/zelensky-trump-putin-negoziati-ucraina\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T17:36:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T16:36:45","slug":"trump-putin-zelensky-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/02\/18\/trump-putin-zelensky-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"Caught between Trump and Putin, Zelensky fears his time is running out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – In just under a month since his (second) inauguration, Donald Trump<\/strong> is already disrupting three years of U.S. foreign policy on Ukraine<\/strong>. As his “negotiating trio” meets with the Russian delegation in Riyadh to test the waters on the Kremlin’s readiness to engage in peace talks<\/strong>, Kyiv is getting nervous<\/strong> because it fears being cut off from discussions about its own future. In the background, Brussels seems doomed to political and strategic irrelevance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Dialogue in Riad<\/h3>\n

He promised it, and he is doing it. The 47th U.S. president,\u00a0Donald Trump<\/strong>, has accelerated the negotiations to reach some settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, taking the whole world by surprise. This includes Washington’s\u00a0closest allies<\/strong>\u00a0(who have tried to run for cover\u00a0under the impulse <\/a>of\u00a0French President\u00a0Emmanuel Macron<\/strong>, but the confrontation has barely begun) and\u00a0the Ukrainians themselves,<\/strong>\u00a0who\u00a0are now afraid of being excluded from negotiations<\/strong>\u00a0on the war that has been battering their country for three years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The White House tenant doesn’t want to waste any time.\u00a0In\u00a0<\/span>Riyadh<\/strong>, the capital of\u00a0<\/span>Saudi Arabia<\/strong>,\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>dream team<\/em>\u00a0of the star-studded administration\u2014consisting of Secretary of State\u00a0<\/span>Marco Rubio<\/strong>, National Security Advisor\u00a0<\/span>Michael Waltz<\/strong>\u00a0and Special Envoy to the Middle East\u00a0<\/span>Steve Witkoff<\/strong>\u2014 is\u00a0<\/span>meeting\u00a0<\/span><\/a>with<\/span><\/span>\u00a0two high-level representatives from Moscow, Foreign Minister\u00a0<\/span>Sergei Lavrov<\/strong>\u00a0and his advisor\u00a0<\/span>Yuri Ushakov<\/strong>.<\/span>Donbas<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Marco<\/a>
From left: U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, National Security Adviser Mosaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban, Kremlin Foreign Affairs Adviser Yuri Ushakov, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meet in Riyadh, Feb. 18, 2025 (photo: Evelyn Hockstein\/Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Officially, as stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov<\/strong>, the meeting aims to “restore the full range of U.S.-Russian relations<\/strong>, prepare for possible talks on the Ukrainian issue, and arrange a meeting between the two presidents.” In fact, it serves as a means for Trump to find out the real intentions<\/strong> of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin<\/strong> in terms of a willingness to negotiate<\/strong> to bring to a swift conclusion the war he started in 2014<\/strong> by annexing Crimea and occupying part of the Donbas, and in\u00a0which in 2022 he made a quantum leap<\/strong> by invading Ukraine on a large scale.<\/p>\n

Stepping back on rare earths?<\/h3>\n

In all this, Volodymyr Zelensky<\/strong> feels cornered. While Washington and Moscow contact teams were landing in Riyadh, he was in Abu Dhabi<\/strong> to meet<\/a> the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

However, the Ukrainian president’s really relevant speeches were delivered to Western broadcasters<\/strong>\u00a0during and after the Security Conference<\/strong> last weekend<\/a> (Feb. 14\u201316) in Munich. There, Zelensky met, in addition to EU Chief Executive Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> and European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/strong>, U.S. Vice President James David Vance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

With Trump’s number two, Zelensky discussed a potential deal<\/strong> that had been much talked about in previous days. The pact was supposed to provide some\u00a0pre-emption for Washington<\/strong>\u00a0regarding access to the rare earths and critical minerals<\/strong> in Ukraine’s subsoil in exchange for a U.S. commitment to ensure Kyiv’s security<\/strong> once a ceasefire with Moscow is signed.<\/p>\n

\n

\"JD<\/a>
U.S. Vice President James David Vance speaks at the Munich Security Conference, Feb. 14, 2025 (photo via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

However, the next day, the Ukrainian president stepped back<\/a>, arguing that the text of the agreement<\/strong>, submitted to him by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent<\/strong>, did not offer sufficiently specific security guarantees<\/strong>. A former senior Kyiv official even called it “a colonial agreement<\/strong>,” while Washington officials present in Munich adopted a “commercial mentality<\/strong>.” The same source anticipated that the Ukrainian government is drafting a “counterproposal”\u00a0<\/strong>to be delivered to the Trump administration. “Help us defend it, and we will gain together,” the Ukrainian leader commented.<\/p>\n

Security Guarantees<\/h3>\n

Talking to NBC News<\/i><\/a>, Zelensky repeated yet again that “I will never accept any decision between the U.S. and Russia on Ukraine<\/strong>” that does not also involve Kyiv. He reiterated that no peace can be genuinely lasting without a concrete commitment from Washington<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He also warned against the speculation circulated in recent days of a withdrawal of U.S. troops from European NATO members<\/strong> as a sign of “good faith” toward Moscow. Putin is a “murderer” and a “terrorist,” he said, and he will not stop in Ukraine but will extend his war into the Old Continent<\/strong>. Starting with those “small countries that were in the USSR<\/strong>“, such as Georgia, Moldova or the Baltics (a possibility, this one, that is recently beginning to circulate even among the intelligence of some European states). If this happens and there is no Uncle Sam umbrella, Zelensky predicts that “Europe will not respond<\/strong>” because “it is militarily weak<\/strong>” and is unable to defend itself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Donald<\/a>
US President Donald Trump (photo via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

On the issue of the occupied territories<\/strong>, the Ukrainian president stressed that “from a legal point of view”,\u00a0it is not possible for Kyiv to recognize as Russian the oblast’ <\/i>in Moscow’s hands<\/strong>. Still,\u00a0it\u00a0is possible to\u00a0grant them “through diplomatic channels”\u00a0<\/strong>to the Federation to recover them in the\u00a0<\/span>distant future. A hypothesis that, he says, would be more solid if Ukraine succeeds in joining the EU and NATO<\/strong>. It is too bad that, at least for the time being,\u00a0Washington\u00a0put a (double) tombstone <\/a>on the latter hypothesis<\/span>, given the unequivocal comments on the subject by Trump and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“Afghanistan 2.0”<\/h3>\n

While some European leaders were gathered at the Elys\u00e9e Palace<\/strong> to discuss\u2014without concluding anything for the moment\u2014how to equip themselves to take charge of their own destiny<\/strong> now that Washington seems to care less about the international order it helped build 80 years ago, German Ard<\/i> broadcast another interview<\/a> with the Ukrainian president, also recorded during the three-day event in Munich.<\/p>\n

There, Zelensky warned his Western interlocutors of the risk of “an Afghanistan 2.0”<\/strong>, referring to the chaotic withdrawal of the U.S.-led international coalition troops<\/strong> in August 2021 (withdrawal carried out by Joe Biden’s administration but decided by Trump in his first term). The message is clear: not to capitulate in the face of Putin’s demands<\/strong>\u2014who has long called for the withdrawal of the Atlantic Alliance from states bordering the Federation\u2014to prevent another black hole<\/strong> as in Kabul<\/strong>, now back in the hands of the Taliban.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Volodymyr<\/a>
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (photo via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

“Americans should be there<\/strong>” on the ground to ensure peace, he reiterated, arguing that this would be “an important demonstration of strength for Putin<\/strong>,” who, Zelensky assured, “is afraid of Trump<\/strong>.” But the problem, he pointed out, lies precisely in the U.S. president’s new approach. It is worrisome, he says, “that the U.S. is saying very pleasant things for Putin<\/strong>,” adding that “they want to please him<\/strong>” with the goal of “meeting and having quick success” in negotiations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The White House’s strong acceleration of direct negotiations with the Kremlin for an end to hostilities in Ukraine has displaced Kyiv, which, like Brussels, is demanding a seat at the negotiating table. The leader of the former Soviet republic is multiplying his appeals to Washington, which for now seem to be falling on deaf ears<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":419027,"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":[26042,25802,26458,26411,25803,25789,30509,26326],"class_list":["post-419049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-russia-in-2","tag-ukrainian-en-2","tag-negotiations-war-ucraine-en","tag-states-united-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419049","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=419049"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":419091,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419049\/revisions\/419091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}