This meeting will not, therefore, provide a springboard to a Nobel Peace Prize which Trump so desperately craves, to match Barack Obama. As with his mediation with Israel over Gaza, which the US President glossed over during his glittering meetings with Arab leaders this week, it is all proving too difficult.
A few days ago, after Putin suggested meeting Zelensky in Turkey, Trump backed the Russians on social media: “President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH. Ukraine should agree to this IMMEDIATELY.”
square JAMES BALL Even Maga is losing patience with Trump
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But Putin didn’t turn up on Thursday, and Zelensky described the strikingly low-level Russian delegation fielded as a “theatre prop” and “a sham”. No Putin, no foreign minister Sergey Lavrov; the team is instead officially headed by an obscure former culture minister called Vladimir Medinsky.
Until Air Force One heads back to the US, there is still a chance that the diplomatic sparring could result in the sort of headline-grabbing drama Trump loves. He said today that he still might go to Istanbul this week, where delegations from Ukraine and Russia are due to meet to discuss ceasefire plans.
A few months ago, comments from Trump, JD Vance and others suggested that the new US administration had swallowed Russia’s propaganda that Zelensky and his government could be brushed aside. Some even dismissed Zelensky as a “dictator”. No longer.
The most likely outcome of this week’s drama is that the US will continue to supply and support Ukraine militarily and move towards tougher sanctions on Russia, unless Putin comes to the table with concessions on Russia’s maximalist demands.
Adam Boulton presents Sunday Morning on Times Radio
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