Putin believes that the US is showing weakness on issues related to Ukraine, Bloomberg reports.

Russian President Putin may consider the situation a significant achievement. His actions have undermined the willpower and sustained resistance of the Ukrainian people. Many today acknowledge what they did not a year ago: concessions in the eastern part of the country may be the only chance for peace. Max Hastings, a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, points out that this is extremely unfair, as Putin has no legitimate right to Ukrainian land.

In this context, the key question remains whether it will be possible to have sufficiently strong leverage to convince Russia to accept conditions that its leadership will have to adhere to longer than it takes to lift Western economic sanctions. This task seems particularly challenging.

After the summit in Alaska in August, Donald Trump’s special representative, Steve Witkoff, called the meeting with Putin a breakthrough. He reported that Russia agreed to adopt a law prohibiting it from seizing new territories in Ukraine or attacking other European countries. For many others, Witkoff’s assessment seemed inappropriate and even indicated his inability to perform his official duties.

Many Ukrainians doubt Western promises of “security zones” and American guarantees. Confidence is fueled by the belief that Trump cares more about the possibility of winning the Nobel Peace Prize than about the actual cessation of the conflict and that his promises cannot be trusted. Hastings notes that in Ukraine’s tragedy, Putin’s will remains unchanged, as he is ready to take extreme measures for his idea of a “great Russia.”

Two weeks have passed since the meeting in Washington, where the US president held talks with European leaders. Despite optimistic statements, peace is still far away. Allies consider it an achievement that Trump, contrary to fears, did not cause a scandal and did not “surrender” to Putin.

European leaders maintain the appearance of unity in actions but actually diverge from the US. Trump continues to trust Putin’s words, which few share. They proceed from the need to inflict significantly greater damage on Russia to force it to accept acceptable conditions.

Hastings argues that the US president and his team do not always understand the principles of diplomacy, sometimes acting like businessmen who do not allow experienced officials to conduct affairs with other states. International negotiations to end the war take time, with serious discussions dragging on for months or even years before agreements are reached at the highest level.

Putin, like leaders of other countries such as Xi Jinping and Ali Khamenei, rarely makes agreements. Such leaders establish their positions, and the task is to make them move away from them. Trump, acting as in a tariff war, intimidates allies but shows that the main opponent’s position remains unchanged.

The Russian president could promise to maintain peace for the lifting of sanctions but insists on conditions that no one could accept. For Putin, not only NATO and Ukraine’s integration into the EU are important, but also any forms of Western military presence in the region.

The most troubling aspect after the summit is that Trump seems ready to continue pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky without creating real pressure on Putin. Trump’s entourage rejects such accusations, pointing to the introduction of 50% tariffs for India on the purchase of Russian oil, but significantly reduced American arms supplies to Ukraine, and the financial burden is shifted to European partners.

Therefore, Putin concludes that America’s will is weak, and Europe’s military capabilities are limited. Trump seeks a temporary respite, which would give him the opportunity to work on his Nobel Peace Prize. This statement became the topic of his conversations with foreign leaders, alongside Israel’s tough approach to the Palestinian issue.

After decades when NATO’s main challenge was containing the Soviet Union, the current problem is the instability of US domestic politics. European leaders are trying to keep Trump from wavering and give Ukraine the opportunity to resist.

The main difficulty lies in Russia’s proximity to Ukraine, while Western countries are at a significant distance. Even under pressure, Putin remains a hostile neighbor with the intention to cause harm, including damage to the US, concludes Hastings.

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China, Vladimir Putin emphasized that the agreements reached with Trump in Alaska “open the way to peace in Ukraine” and again placed responsibility for the conflict on the West and political transformations in Ukraine.

Read more at – NANews Israel News