Trump faces tough decision on Ukraine in talks with Putin - Bloomberg

The agency emphasized that European officials say that the US leader may have to make a choice: he could start putting pressure on Russia or make increasingly significant concessions to Putin in order to meet the ceasefire deadline set by Putin himself.

In Europe, it is believed that Moscow intends to continue the discussions and narrow the scope of negotiations to force the US to make concessions. Trump’s decision to link relations with Moscow to other US issues, such as Iran and China, has also provided Putin with leverage.

Delaying the process

“I think that Russia wants to see an end to it, but it could be they’re dragging their feet,” Trump said on March 25 in an interview with Newsmax.

According to one person familiar with the Kremlin’s plans, after Russia outlined its demands for easing sanctions during the talks, it will demand that future agreements include similar guarantees.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia is using Trump’s desire for a ceasefire as an opportunity to insert its demands into agreements that should have been unconditional. He said that his forces would adhere to a partial truce immediately.

During parallel negotiations in Saudi Arabia this week with Ukrainian and Russian delegations, US officials sought an immediate ceasefire at sea and an end to attacks on energy infrastructure.

However, Moscow conditioned its participation in the Black Sea agreement on a number of preconditions, including the easing of sanctions.

Currently, there is virtually no military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea, as Kyiv forced the Kremlin to redeploy its ships through a series of attacks using maritime drones.

A US statement following the meetings indicated that Moscow and Kyiv agreed to develop mechanisms for implementing a ban on strikes on energy infrastructure.

According to the White House, the US will also “help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.”

The Trump administration had previously made it clear to allies that it would not lift trade restrictions on Russia until the war ended, although easing sanctions will most likely be part of any deal.

Among Russia’s demands on Tuesday, the Russians called for allowing some banks to return to the international SWIFT payment system. To make such a step effective, the consent of the European Union, which has also restricted creditors’ access to the system, is needed. European officials have stated that this is unlikely and would require unanimous support from all 27 member states.

Peace efforts

Bloomberg had reported that the Trump administration intends to achieve a full ceasefire by April 20. However, European officials have stated that this seems increasingly ambitious. Given the current status of the negotiations, they said it will take months to work out the details of a final agreement.

According to Western officials, despite Trump’s efforts, Putin’s main demands have not changed. They include a desire to neutralize Ukrainian military forces, annex the territories occupied by Moscow and illegally declared as Russian, and stop the supply of weapons to Kyiv.

European officials said they hope Trump will eventually conclude that Putin is unreasonable or insincerely desires a strong peace agreement. However, they noted that the US president’s desire for a swift resolution to the conflict complicates predictions of what decision he will ultimately make.

Trump has repeatedly stated that, in his opinion, both Putin and Zelenskyy would like to end the fighting and that he personally wants to end both the violence and US expenditures on aid to Kyiv. “I just want this to stop,” Trump told Newsmax. “I also don’t want to pay.”