But, with Trump, little is fixed or permanent—and I don’t think it’s right to say that he has taken Putin’s side conclusively or that Putin is getting the entirety of his wish list from Trump. First, he was able to switch the perception Trump seems to have had in recent weeks—that Putin is the impediment to peace or the problem child in this war—and instead appeared in Trump’s eyes to be the constructive partner, as opposed to Zelensky and the Europeans, in resolving it. That would have been Trump really pushing Zelensky to accept Putin’s position in which Ukraine, for example, has to withdraw from the remainder of the Donbas that’s still under its control.
Author: Ian Crouch
Published at: 2025-08-19 22:00:00
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