US President Donald Trump has promised a quick end to the war in Ukraine, but with the start of talks, the author of "The Art of the Deal" may have already complicated his task by sacrificing US influence in the world.
Trump, who separately discussed the war on Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told U.S. officials to begin talks to end the nearly three-year-old war.
"We're going to do something. We're going to meet in Munich, as you know, and we're going to have a couple of other meetings. I'm going to deal with President Putin mostly on the phone. And ultimately we expect to meet. In fact, we expect him to come here and I'm going to go there to Saudi Arabia," Trump said.
The call between Trump and Putin came shortly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Ukraine's military allies in Brussels that a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and that the US did not see Kiev's NATO membership as part of a solution.
"I know our new secretary of defense, who is excellent, made a statement saying he thinks it's unlikely or impractical. I think that's probably true. I think long before President Putin, they said they couldn't allow this for many, many years. For NATO and I'm okay with Ukraine not joining."
This stance by the world's most powerful man has been seen as a surrender to Vladimir Putin. The first to react was former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, saying that Trump is helping Putin.
For his part, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dealt a serious blow to Ukrainian hopes. The country's admission to NATO is practically impossible and the complete restoration of Ukraine's borders, which Zelensky has set as a war goal, is unrealistic, he said at a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in Brussels. Meanwhile, European foreign ministers insisted on Europe's participation in peace negotiations for Ukraine. (A2 Televizion)
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