The “first error of the republican leader was at the beginning, when he essentially conceded NATO membership in Ukraine and some of Russia’s territorial requests before even going into talks,” said Pistorius.
Trump – who has long praised his prowess of the agreement and, during the campaign, he said that he could easily end the conflict – publicly excluded that Ukraine joined the Transatlantic Military Alliance and said that it was unlikely that Kyiv would recover all of his territories occupied by Russia, to the dismay of Ukraine Western donors.
“This is not how you start negotiations. And this is a very low position to pursue peace or cease-fire talks,” added Pistorius.
But the German defense manager – who served in the cabinet of former chancellor Olaf Scholz and has retained his role under the new chief Friedrich Merz – said that Trump “seems to be slowly realizing that it is not as simple as he thought” and that he might need to use “different tools” to put Putin pressure, referring to sanctions.
Trump “must also recognize that Putin will not be influenced in this way,” said Pistorius.
Chris Lunday contributed to this report.
