A Bad Deal for Ukraine

The Coming Fumble of the Trump-Putin Talks

According to recent reporting, Donald Trump will be speaking with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, March 18th on the topic of a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. This conversation would be the first official high-level bilateral engagement between the presidents of Russia and the United States since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine (outside of a series of phone calls between Trump and Putin previously unknown to the public).

I think this is going to be a disaster.

More specifically, I think this meeting is going to be a disaster for Ukraine and security in Europe. Whatever agreement comes from this meeting will not lead to lasting peace in the region. The terms of this ceasefire will likely serve as a means for the Russians to rebuild their capabilities and reconstitute their military.

Let’s review Trump’s approach to “peace talks” - or as I would call it, his path to Ukrainian surrender. After publicly attacking Ukrainian president Zelenskyy and calling him a “dictator”, Trump and V…