CARL BILDT
It has been nearly 100 days since Donald Trump returned to the US presidency and Russian missiles continue to rain down on Ukrainian civilians. Despite Trump’s pledge to end the war on “day one,” peace is nowhere in sight. When will the administration acknowledge that it is failing?
Trump’s initial demands were straightforward: stop fighting and start negotiating. After his first conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he announced that a complete cessation of fighting was imminent, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed that prospect.
Since then, however, Putin and his small team at the Kremlin have obviously succeeded in dragging Trump’s inexperienced negotiator, Steve Witkoff, down a rabbit hole of complex conditionalities and impossible demands. After many weeks of this, even the most dimwitted of negotiators should have realized that Putin has no intention of agreeing to a ceasefire or accepting Trump’s plan or timetable.
Ever since he launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022, Putin has relied on Russian military might to deliver him control over Ukraine. He went in with an army of roughly 200,000 contract soldiers, but has since expanded the invasion force to around 600,000 with selective mobilizations and huge financial incentives. Yet despite suffering 700,000-800,000 casualties, with more than 200,000 dead, the supposedly mighty Russian army controls less Ukrainian territory – 18.3% to be precise – than it did at this time three years ago.
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