American efforts to end the war in Ukraine seems favorable to Russia, with mixed signals

By dasha litvinova

Tallinn, Estonie (AP) – The discussions took place in a room adorned with the Kremlin, on the polished marble of the Saint -Pierre basilica and in a disputed session in the oval office of the White House.

What has emerged so far from the effort led by Washington to put an end to the war in Ukraine suggests an agreement that seems likely to be favorable to Russia: President Donald Trump has strongly reprimanded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, echoed the Kremlin discussion points, and indicated that Kyiv could have controlled the territory and Kremlin. In addition, he embarked on a rapprochement with Moscow which was unthinkable months ago.

More recently, Trump has offered mixed signals – publications on social networks that perhaps Russian President Vladimir Putin are leading it – and an agreement has not yet materialized.

While the optics have so far been in favor of the Kremlin, no proposal that has been advanced has been cemented.

And Wednesday, Washington and kyiv signed an agreement granting American access to the vast mineral resources of Ukraine which could allow continuous military aid to the country under the ongoing attacks of Russia.

Zelenskyy said Thursday that the agreement was the first result of his “really historic” meeting with Trump at the Vatican before the funeral of Pope Francis.

File – Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and the American special envoy Steve Witkoff greet himself before their talks at Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilityna, Sputnik, Kremlin swimming pool photo via AP, file)

DOSS – On this photo provided by the Ukrainian presidential press office, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the right, and President Donald Trump, to speak when they attend the funeral of Pope Francis in the Saint -Pierre basilica in the city of Vatican, April 26, 2025.

File – Vice -president JD Vance, on the right, is expressed with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the left, while President Donald Trump listens, in the Oval White House office, on February 28, 2025, in Washington. (Photo / mytyslav chernovs, file)

File – Russian soldiers keep a pier where two Ukrainian naval ships are moored, in Sevastopol, in the Crimean Peninsula, March 5, 2014. (AP photo, file)

File – On this photo provided by the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Sepreint of separate mechanized brigade press, a soldier looks at a shelter on the anti -drone shooting position in Kostantynivka, the heavy battle site with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, April 24. AP, file)

Proof of presentation

1 of 5

File – Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and the American special envoy Steve Witkoff greet himself before their talks at Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilityna, Sputnik, Kremlin swimming pool photo via AP, file)

Develop

Dialogue and aligned vision

A gain for the Kremlin is that Washington speaks again in Moscow after years of extremely tense links after his invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – and not only on war, said Nikolay Petrov, principal researcher with the new reflection group of the Center for Eurasian Strategies.

Russian officials and the state media from the start of discussions with Trump officials sought to emphasize that Ukraine was only one element of the vast agenda of the “two superpowers”. Trump and Putin spoke in March of Ukraine but also of the Middle East, stopping the proliferation of strategic weapons and even the organization of hockey games between countries.

Russia’s main state television channel reported that the meeting between Putin and Trump’s envoy, Steve-Witkoff, has shown that Moscow and Washington were building together “a new structure in the world”.

In this sense, “Putin has already been part of what he was looking for” – Russia’s optics as a country with the United States, said Petrov.

Trump said Crimea, the Ukrainian Peninsula Moscow, was annexed illegal in 2014, “will remain with Russia”, and the described of a peace proposal that his team would have presented in Kyiv last month, Russia apparently included keeping control of other occupied Ukrainian territories. Trump, who had a controversial meeting with Zelenskyy in the oval office on February 28, denounced him for having publicly rejected the idea of ​​giving up land, and also said that kyiv was unlikely to join NATO.

All these elements reflect the long -standing positions of Moscow, and the echo of Trump suggested that the vision of his administration was aligned with that of the Kremlin.

Trump also highlights more pressure on kyiv than Moscow by trying to reach a peace agreement and seems eager to return to a more normal relationship with Russia and its “great commercial opportunities”, said Sam Greene of King’s College in London.

“Is there a part of that that doesn’t look like a victory for Russia? No,” added Greene.

So far, it only speaks

But so far, all of this has only remained rhetoric, with terms of a possible regulation still “in the air”, explains Sergey Radchenko, historian and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

In addition, there are still requests from Russia and Ukraine who would be difficult to reconcile in any type of peace regulation.

Ukraine refuses to give up all land and wishes solid security guarantees against future aggression, perhaps involving a contingent of peacekeepers-something that a handful of European nations have discussed and Russia publicly rejects as a non-starter.