Thursday briefing: Thanks to an erratic Trump, peace in Ukraine is still far away

Peace between Russia and Ukraine looks no closer, and former British ambassador Nigel Gould-Davies, now at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, says the reason is simple: Moscow does not want the fighting to stop. Ukraine has repeatedly signaled it would take an unconditional ceasefire, while Russia has said publicly that it wants a complete end to the war on terms giving it dominance over a badly weakened neighbor. In his view, the talks held since Donald Trump returned to office have amounted to both sides lobbying Washington to blame the other, according to The Guardian.

President Trump has complicated matters. He declared an energy ceasefire on Truth Social that neither government had agreed to. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he knew nothing of it but would accept it, and Vladimir Putin then struck Ukrainian power plants. Gould-Davies calls the announcement invented and says Trump's instincts favor Russia, pointing to limits on weapons shipments and earlier halts in intelligence sharing. Zelenskyy has accused Washington of curbing Ukraine's access to military-grade Starlink service.

Meanwhile, Trump has proposed buying Russian diesel to ease fuel prices, which alarmed European leaders and a bipartisan group of senators. Prime Minister Andy Burnham hosted Zelenskyy in London and pledged expanded British backing.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →