But during discussions with Zelensky, according to the person familiar with the matter cited above, “the Americans said that Putin wanted to continue fighting and that he had a powerful war machine.”
“Then (U.S. special envoy Steve) Witkoff came into the conversation and said the Russians were aiming to take all of Donbass (region of eastern Ukraine)… And there was a feeling in the room that the Americans were testing the Ukrainians and what they (would) agree on,” the person said.
Abandoning the well-fortified Donbass region is not a solution for Ukraine, which fears it could open a clear path for Russia to more easily conquer new territories. This is not the first time the Trump administration has suggested a land swap that could further Russian strategic goals, although the US president has recently raised kyiv’s prospects in the war.
“Zelensky disagreed that Ukraine should cede land that Russia had failed to occupy. Ultimately, Trump ended the meeting by saying, ‘OK, let’s try to end the current line,'” the person cited above said.
The US president’s apparently renewed credulity in Putin’s view of the war will frustrate European leaders, who are working to convince Trump that Russia’s public statements about its desire to end the conflict it started are a charade.
“With one phone call, Putin appears to have once again changed President Trump’s mind on Ukraine,” a second person familiar with the negotiations told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook.
