Could Putin Sabotage Trump's Peace Efforts in Ukraine?

Donald Trump is eager to broker peace in Ukraine. A crucial question is who he sees as the saboteur. It could now be Vladimir Putin.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, had a notably better experience this time at the White House. He has learned how to flatter Donald Trump, from clothing choices to gifts. A sigh of relief was heard in Kyiv after the two addressed the press before yesterday's meetings.

The European leaders—about as heavyweight a delegation as the continent can muster—who then joined at the White House also demonstrated their mastery in charming Donald Trump.

The only one who stood out a bit was Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who continued to emphasize the importance of a ceasefire first, followed by peace negotiations regarding the war in Ukraine.

This used to be Trump's stance as well, but he changed his mind after meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska last Friday. A meeting that caused acute anxiety in Europe and Ukraine.

That's why Monday's meeting took place. And it's rare—if ever—that we've seen such scenes in the White House with the U.S. president meeting European leaders.

And they seem to feel afterward that it was definitely worth the trip. This went about as well as they could hope.

There don't seem to have been many concrete results, but that was not expected given how quickly this major summit was put together.

Much of it was about the security guarantees Ukraine needs to prevent Vladimir Putin from attempting to take the rest of Ukraine in a few years, should a peace agreement be reached.

As expected, it wasn't clear what those guarantees actually look like, but NATO chief Mark Rutte called the meeting with Trump a breakthrough.

That might be too strong a word considering how often Trump has changed his mind before, but the American president at least made vague promises to "help them."

Trump later said on social media that the U.S. will play a "coordinating role." However, he did not answer the question of whether the U.S. is also prepared to send soldiers. It will most likely be a task for Europe.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing European sources who participated in the meeting, the guarantees involve four things: military presence, air defense, arming Ukraine, and monitoring a peace agreement.

Trump promises to continue sending American military material to Ukraine as long as Europe pays for it. According to Zelensky, this involves new purchases worth approximately 900 billion kronor.

One thing Trump didn't seem to say much about at the meeting with the Europeans was the talk of exchanging territories in Ukraine and what territories are involved. This was also a relief for the Europeans.

We'll see how long this lasts. But the next step Trump now wants to see is a summit between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. Possibly with himself present.

Trump even interrupted the meeting for a moment to speak with Putin. The impression afterward was that Putin had practically said yes.

Germany's Friedrich Merz said afterward that they were informed that Putin agreed to a meeting within two weeks. Maybe so. Maybe not.

In the statement from the Kremlin after Trump's conversation, there was no mention of Putin planning to attend, only that there was a discussion about a future meeting at a higher level than before.

Putin has long made it clear that he sees Volodymyr Zelensky as an illegitimate president, partly because no new elections have been held during the war.

It's good news if the Russian president has changed his mind. In that case, we might witness the beginning of the end of this war.

But Putin has slipped out of similar situations before. He is a master at stalling.

After the meeting in Alaska, it felt as if Trump once again placed the greatest responsibility on Ukraine to end the war, implicitly by agreeing to Russian demands.

But if Putin doesn't even want to talk to Zelensky, it certainly doesn't look good in Trump's eyes, who has invested a lot of energy in arranging such a meeting. Then Putin could become the saboteur who denies Trump his peace prize.

So the fact that the ball seems to have landed back in Moscow is a success for Ukraine and Europe. Always something.