Alarm bells are ringing across Europe after Donald Trump and his staff caved in to key Putin demands before peace talks even start – sparking comparisons to the failure to stand up to Hitler in the 1930s
Trump agrees to meet Putin in attempt to stop war in Ukraine
Alarm bells are ringing across Europe amid growing signs Donald Trump will sell-out Ukraine and hand a major boost to Vladimir Putin.
The erratic Republican spoke to bloodthirsty tyrant Putin this week as he pushes for an end to the brutal war. Even before peace talks start, Trump has handed an “avalanche of concessions” to the Russian President – even suggesting he is accepted back into the G7 world leaders group after 11 years of exile.
The Kremlin has been handed a major boost with Trump’s return to the White House. The Republican’s apparent capitulation to Putin has sparked accusations of moral cowardice similar to that shown by European leaders to the Nazis before World War Two.
In a scathing attack this week, former Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace likened the Munich Security Conference – being attended by defence chiefs from across the world – to the “disastrous conference of 1938 where the continent stood blind in the face of Hitler’s duplicity”.
He went on: “The stench of appeasement is once again returning to Munich.” On Friday Keir Starmer told Volodymyr Zelensky “there could be no talks about Ukraine, without Ukraine” amid fears Trump is negotiating Putin behind closed doors.
Here we look at a troubling week which suggests the Trump administration is melting in the face of Putin’s regime.
Returning to 2014 borders ‘unrealistic’
Jaws dropped across Europe when US Secretary Pete Hegseth blurted out that the US believes Putin will be allowed to keep land he seized.
Speaking before negotiations to end the war even begin, Mr Hegseth ruled out taking a hard line with the Russian dictator. It was a very public concession that the US will not even push for Putin to give back land he seized in Crimea.
The Trump appointee said: “We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective.
“Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”
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NATO membership
Ukraine has long demanded to be allowed to join NATO. Becoming part of the alliance would boost its security against future Russian invasions, as the bloc views an attack on one member as an attack on all.
If Ukraine had been a member in 2022, Putin’s invasion would have been an act of war against allies including the US, the UK, Germany and France. NATO nations would have joined the fight to repel Russian forces – or more likely, it would have prevented Putin invading in the first place.
But this desire is off the table as well, Mr Hegseth said. In another boost for the Kremlin, he told reporters: “The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”
He said instead that an agreement should be backed by “capable European and non-European troops”. He went on: “If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission and they should not be covered under Article 5.”
Article 5 is the bloc’s mutual defence clause. His words would have been music to Putin’s ears.
Return to G7
Russia was cast out to the sidelines after the 2014 invasion of Crimea.
It was kicked out of the G8 – a group of the world’s biggest economies – as punishment for the illegal annexation. But Trump now reckons it was a mistake to do so, and revealed he backs Russia’s return to the top table.
He told reporters: “”I’d love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out. Look, it’s not a question of liking Russia or not liking Russia. It was the G8.”
The US President continued: “I said, ‘What are you doing? You guys – all you’re talking about is Russia and they should be sitting at the table.’ I think Putin would love to be back.”
‘Russia fought hard for land’ remark
Suggesting the US would capitulate to Putin, Trump implied he would not push very hard for Ukrainian territory to be returned.
The US President made the alarming remarks following a phone call with his Russian counterpart on Wednesday. Following the chat he said Russia “took a lot of land, and they fought for that land and they lost a lot of soldiers”.
And to reiterate his lack of interest in standing up to the killer President he said: “I’m just here to try and get peace. I don’t care so much about anything other than I want to stop having millions of people killed.”
Putin quotes Trump’s campaign slogan to him
Putin played to Trump’s ego by quoting a MAGA campaign slogan to the purring US President.
Following the duo’s phone call this week, the US President said he had agreed to visit Russia, and allow Putin into the US. He said: “As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.
“President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, ‘COMMON SENSE.’ We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations.”
So…. no arrest for Putin then?
You will remember that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Putin in relation to war crimes.
It has severely limited the despot’s ability to travel around the world. For example he wasn’t present at the G20 summit in Rio last year amid intense speculation he could be arrested when he touched down.
But the US is not a member of the ICC, and Trump clearly has no intention of enforcing the warrant. His revelation that the due had agreed to visit each other’s nations suggests that Putin can travel to the US with impunity.
Dig at Zelensky’s ‘poll numbers’
One of the big flash points from Trump’s interventions is whether a deal will be forced on Ukraine.
In his typical manner the US leader downplayed this, but then made a disdainful comment about President Volodymyr Zelensky that will ramp up concerns in Kyiv.
Pressed on whether Ukraine will be frozen out, Trump said: “I don’t think so as long as he’s there.” But in the next breath he said: “Sometime [Ukraine’s] going to have to have elections too … His poll numbers aren’t particularly great.”