As Trump talks peace, Ukraine and NATO learn their place
Excluding Ukraine and Europe from peace talks with Russia, Trump reminds his proxies that Washington runs the war.
President Trump did not fulfill his campaign pledge to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours. Yet in just a few days, he has already accomplished more toward that ultimate result than his predecessor, Joe Biden, was able to in three years.
First, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth effectively ruled out future NATO membership for Ukraine, saying that he does not see it as a “realistic outcome” of the war. Trump then went further, telling reporters that he agrees “that a country in Russia’s position” could never allow Ukraine to join NATO, and blamed Biden for refusing to take it off the table. “I don’t see that happening,” he added.
Trump also announced that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the two would “start negotiations immediately” to end the Ukraine war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has done the same with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov – a dialogue that Rubio’s predecessor, Antony Blinken, shunned throughout his tenure – ahead of a proposed Trump-Putin summit. White House officials, including Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz, will meet Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia next week. The US government’s post-Biden U-turn was capped by Vice President JD Vance, whose speech at the Munich Security Conference only mentioned Ukraine in passing.
In distancing himself from NATO’s Ukraine invite and speaking to Moscow directly, Trump has drawn a stark contrast with Biden.
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