Has Trump woken up to Putin’s Ukraine game?– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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Excerpt:
President Donald Trump, on his Truth Social platform, stated on Tuesday that Ukraine, with the support of NATO and the European Union, could “fight and win all of Ukraine back in its original form.” He described Russia as a “paper tiger” and said Ukraine “is only getting better.”
It is too early to call this a new policy. Trump has changed his position on Ukraine many times. He has alternated between sympathetic remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin and critical statements about Ukraine, while also moving from skepticism toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to support for the Ukrainian leader. Still, if Trump follows through on his recent statement, the prospect of real peace becomes more plausible.
That’s because Moscow is unlikely to reconsider its maximalist position on Ukraine unless it faces the real prospect of a Ukrainian victory or heavy pushback by the United States. Providing Ukraine with new weapons, imposing secondary sanctions on Moscow, and the targeting of Russian oil revenues could convince the Kremlin that continued war is unwinnable. In turn, Putin might come to a more serious negotiation position.
Until now, however, Moscow’s version of peace has always meant Kyiv’s capitulation. The Kremlin’s goal is not simply to seize land but to erase Ukraine’s sovereignty, collapse its statehood, and diminish Western international power. On the battlefield, Russia has been unable to secure a decisive victory for three and a half years. If it also comes to understand that it cannot force concessions at the negotiating table, that may be the point at which it is prepared for a more practical conversation.
