On the slow road to peace in Ukraine – Politico

Then, Trump must exercise a restraint by considering the meetings at the top with Putin: an early summit would be an completely an undeserved reward for the Russian chief. It should only be considered towards the end of a promising negotiation process.

In addition, the Russian part may well plan a surprise military attack or a major offensive in order to undermine Western or Ukrainian ideas on the framework of negotiation. And although the West should certainly not facilitate things for Russia, there must be room for realism.

Take, for example, the much discussed idea of ​​ensuring that European troops get a ceasefire line. The political objective here is clear and solid: it would allow Europe to show Trump that it is ready to do more for its own security than it has so far. But the devil is in detail.

Estimates the number of troops required to effectively secure a 1,000 -kilometer contact line vary from 50,000 to 200,000 – the latter figure came from the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself. In a realistic way, could Europe manage politically or militarily that, while the Bundeswehr finds it difficult to deploy a brigade in Lithuania? Doubts can therefore be expressed as to whether Europe would even be able to credible a ceasefire with a large number of troops. And the possible involvement of troops of third countries, including for example India, should be considered as a consideration.

For its part, Washington does not even think of putting “ground boots” – a position that breaks the principle of NATO according to which the risks should be shared. This will also make more difficult for European governments to obtain the membership they need their parliaments. As Germany shows, the slogan “ensemble – Out Together” has always been a healthy NATO director.

It is important that we do not offer short -sighted solutions, but fix long -term priorities and we are preparing for a difficult and painful negotiation process, which could take a lot of time because of its extreme complexity. Above all, we must not only continue to provide military and financial assistance to Ukraine, but to increase it.

This is the ideal way to achieve an effective result for the future of a sovereign, free and unconvered Ukraine, and the restoration of Europe’s security.