Trump’s chaotic diplomacy leaves Ukraine adrift

Considering the dizzying speed of President Trump’s announcements and executive actions orders, it’s no surprise that the shocks of yesterday are constantly overshadowed by those of today’s amazement. Consider Ukraine as a case in point. Even prior to his return to the White House, Trump expressed his desire for a swift conclusion to the conflict, beginning with a 30-day cease-fire.

There appeared a great storm of activity, of which the peaks include the dramatic removal of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky from the White House for lacking deference, the agreement Zelensky couldn’t decline to give the United States significant authority over Ukrainian minerals, a very long and apparently cordial phone call between Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and meetings in Saudi Arabia aimed at negotiating a ceasefire. 

Recently, Russia rejected a 30-day cease-fire. Instead, both parties only concurred to cease assaults on their respective power plants and in the Black Sea.

Next was Signalgate, an attack on prestigious universities and shocking “Liberation Day” proclamations announcing tariffs on the majority of the globe. Ukraine has slipped further down the priority list. Therefore, here’s an update: nothing has changed.

There is no peace, at least not by way of peace. Russia and Ukraine never achieved a formal deal on striking energy facilities and blamed each other for continuing to do it. No mineral agreement has been achieved with Ukraine. Russia has continued attacking Ukraine with missiles and drones and attempting to progress on the ground. This week, seizures included a missile hit on Zelensky’s hometown and a lethal barrage of drones against Kharkiv.

There’s no indication that Putin is getting prepared to stop battling. He just marked a decree calling for a massive new round of enlistment. North Korea, meanwhile, has seemingly sent at least 3,000 more troops to join 11,000 already battling for Russia, according to South Korea, mostly attempting to expel Ukrainians from a bag they seized around Kursk.

It has been reported that Trump is unhappy. In a rare moment of discontent toward Putin, the president expressed that he was “very angry” and “pissed off” at the Russian leader. However, he also accused Zelensky of “attempting to back out of” the minerals deal, cautioning that this could result in “big, big problems.” 

On Wednesday, Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy for investment and international economic relations, arrived in Washington for discussions. He has previously met multiple times with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy for Russia and the Middle East. However, Reuters noted that senior Trump officials are skeptical about reaching a peace deal in the coming months.

Despite claims of anger towards Putin, Trump’s new tariff list did not include Russia. The White House clarified that this omission was because there is no trade with Russia. However, Ukraine was included on that list, along with countries such as Brunei, which has even less trade with the U.S. than Russia does. This suggests that the Nobel Peace Prize may need to be postponed.