As the saying goes, “better late than never.” It is good that US President Donald Trump has realised, though late, yet not too late, that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin cannot be blindly trusted, as he has so far been doing, for ending Russia’s war with Ukraine. The heads of state of most European countries endorsed the view of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Putin would not easily agree to cease-fi re and in the name of peace initiatives he was only buying time for reorganising his forces to launch fresh at tacks on Ukraine. But, it was Trump alone who put his faith in Putin. The US President had even accused Zelenskyy of pushing the world to the “third world war” by his words and deeds. He found the latter his favourite target of attack in his resolve to establish peace and stop the war between Russia and Ukraine which in his warped view is the creation of “Biden (his immediate predecessor) and Zelenskyy.”
Also Read: Nation First
But, on 25 May Trump had the rude shock when his “friend” Putin launched the worst drone attack on Ukraine since the Russian invasion of the country three years back. He was forced to use the harshest words against Putin whom he now describes as “crazy.” He even went on to warn that if Putin attempts to conquer all of Ukraine, it will lead to the “downfall” of Russia. In the same breath, he continued to criticize Zelenskyy in a post 25 May night itself. His words are an admission of his failure to assess the reality as he had done in the case of his tariff war. He said: “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia. But, he has gone absolutely CRAZY!” He went even further to claim that he had always said Putin “wants All of Ukraine, not just a piece of it.” In fact, this was the fear Zelenskyy had expressed repeatedly and Trump snubbed him for his views on Putin. It appears Trump is not ready even now to admit that his hostility towards Zelenskyy was rather misplaced. This is why he said he did not want Zelenskyy to open his mouth, while conceding to reporters that he was “very surprised” that Putin had intensified the bombardment of Ukrainian cities despite his efforts to broker a ceasefire. As European countries stepped up sanctions against Russia, Trump had appeared to be in no mood to put pressure on Russia and took the stand that if peace proved elusive, the US would walk away from the whole process. Good sense seems to be dawning on him as he told a reporter in reply to a question that he was now seriously considering putting more sanctions on Russia. His exact words on that possibility are: “Absolutely. He’s (Putin) killing a lot of people. What the hell happened to him?” Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy condemned “the silence of America” after Russia carried out its largest air raid in three years of war, with a second straight night of massive drone and ballistic missile strikes killing at least 12 people, including three children from 24 to 25 May.
Also Read
It is worth recalling that during his campaign for presidency, Trump repeatedly claimed that if elected, he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. However, the intensity and frequency of this weekend’s strikes contrasted sharply with Trump’s claim that Putin was inter ested in peace. Ukraine and its European allies had sought to push Moscow into signing a 30-day ceasefi re as a fi rst step to negotiating an end to the war. In a blow to their efforts, Trump last week declined to impose further sanctions on Moscow. It appears Trump is desperate to play the role of a peacemaker in different regions of the world and become the pivot of a new economic order. So far, in his typical style he is messing things up
