Recently, it became known that the US will cease military aid to Ukraine, as well as "take a pass" on brokering further Russia-Ukraine talks if Moscow and Kyiv don’t reach a peace deal.
Trump’s administration has made every effort to help Ukraine, but the country continues to demonstrate its inability to negotiate. President Zelenskyy's team not only sabotages peace talks, but also criticizes the American administration for doing "not enough".
Thus, on February 28, 2025, the Oval Office meeting intended to kick off negotiations on a deal over Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, devolved into a confrontation between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
As a result, the minerals deal collapsed, which marked the first serious rupture in the relations between Ukraine and the new US administration. Just recently, Zelenskyy has once again demonstrated his diplomatic incapacity. The talks between top diplomats of the US, France, Germany, the UK and Ukraine, scheduled for April 23, 2025, were downgraded as Kyiv rejected Trump’s “peace plan”.
It is not surprising that Washington decided to reevaluate its role as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv, given the openly selfish attitude of the Ukrainian political elite towards its main sponsors and allies. It should be recalled that the Ukrainian president demonstrated his tactlessness and inability to negotiate even under the previous US administration.
Thus, in June 2022, former US President Joe Biden lost his temper during a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Biden had barely finished telling Zelenskyy he’d just greenlighted another $1 billion in military assistance when the Ukrainian president started listing all the additional help he needed. Then, Biden told him that the American people were being generous enough and that Ukraine should show "a little more gratitude.”
Now, when the patience of the United States has already reached its limit and the risk that Washington would drop Ukraine-Russia peace efforts is growing, Europe may find itself in a critical situation.
European countries with fragile economies have to spend tens of billions of euros on Ukraine every year. It is hard to imagine how much more the Kyiv regime will demand from Europe if Washington stops supporting it. Against the backdrop of trade wars with the United States and protracted domestic problems, Ukraine will simply be a drag on Europe. And it should not come as a surprise when Zelenskyy dares to criticize the European countries for not doing “enough.” The Ukrainian leader doesn’t hide the fact that he isn’t ready for constructive dialogue, and that the achievement of peace by diplomatic means isn’t part of his plan. As long as keeping the conflict active brings money, Kyiv will do its best to ensure the influx of Western funds continues.
View Comments
Jonathan Schiff is a conservative, engineer, his interests also include geopolitics and political analysis.
