“President Zelensky played the game extremely well,” Volker observed. “By aligning himself with President Trump’s wishes, he made it clear that Ukraine is not the problem. The problem is Putin.”
The next few weeks will be crucial for Kyiv and for Moscow.
“I think Trump is going to call Putin and tell him to end the war. I think Putin will disagree…and I think Team Trump will understand that they need to show strength. Show more determination. And put all of that on the table,” Volker said.
That could mean tougher sanctions, a substantial increase in U.S. energy exports to starve Putin’s war budget, and continued military support for Ukraine. “It’s not about taxpayers’ money, but there are different ways to do it, including a lend-lease program, including Europe seizing the 300 billion euros of Russian assets and using that money to buy American defense equipment,” Volker said. “This will send a signal to Putin: this is not going to get better.”
Ukraine’s two bubbles
Zoya Lytvyn, director of the Global Government Technology Center in kyiv, said Ukrainian opinion on Trump was split between two bubbles. The first contains those who extol Western values, align with the US Democratic Party – and are “afraid of Trump and (Vice President) JD Vance”.
Meanwhile, “those in the second bubble say we’ve already seen everything Biden could do and the level of support he could provide, and it wasn’t enough.” Trump, at least, “has enough power to bring about stabilization.”
