
Russia and Ukraine adopt similar tactic with Trump: Make nice and take it slow
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. President Trump’s pursuit of breakneck diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine is colliding with Moscow and Kyiv’s go-slow approach. Russia is putting sticks in the wheels of Trump’s cease-fire drive, playing for time as it presses its gains on the battlefield and pushes for maximum concessions in negotiations.
All the while, Moscow insists it wants peace. Now, after quickly agreeing to U.S. cease-fire proposals, Ukraine is less eager to sign off on a sweeping economic deal proposed by the White House that would hand over significant control of the country’s resource wealth.
While publicly committing to a minerals deal, Kyiv is trying to buy time to improve the terms. Both appear to be banking on Trump running out of patience with the other first. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has shown flexibility and willingness to accommodate Trump, said former U.S.
Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, “but he’s not about to mortgage his country’s future on the issue of the critical minerals plus hydrocarbon resources." Russian President Vladimir Putin is constructing a Potemkin village for Trump, Herbst said. “Whatever gestures he makes towards Trump—it’s all for show," he said. The diplomatic maneuvering by Russia and Ukraine reflects their attempts to keep Trump onside without fully acceding to his demands.
Ukraine wants to end the war without capitulating to Russia or surrendering its economic independence to the U.S. Russia wishes to dominate Ukraine and prevent its integration with the West—and believes it has the upper hand in the three-year war. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Tuesday said Moscow couldn’t accept the U.S.
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