N. Peter Kramer’s Weekly Column
President Volodymyr Zelensky was not at the negotiating table; he sent his chief of staff together with the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Ukraine. President Donald Trump delegated US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
It was the first time since the dramatic meeting of both presidents at the White House two weeks ago that Ukrainians and Americans had talks again, but the meeting proved fruitful.
After hours of negotiations, an agreement was reached. Ukraine agrees to a thirty-day ceasefire in the war with Russia. This was evident from a joint American-Ukrainian communication after the meeting.
The question now is what Russia will do with the proposal. According to Zelensky, it is now up to Trump to convince Putin to agree. It is clear that US diplomatic pressure is shifting from Ukraine to Russia. ‘If Russia says no now, we know where the obstacle to peace lies,’ Rubio said. Trump’s envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, would go to Moscow this week for further talks.
It is no secret that the US President wants a peace deal as soon as possible. According to him Putin is prepared for that, but it was Zelensky who was obstructing. The image has now been reversed. Trump announced yesterday that the US would again share all military intelligence with Ukraine and the abruptly halted arms deliveries can also be restarted.
He put with this decision 34 military chiefs from NATO and non-NATO EU countries, and from Japan and Australia in their shirt. They met in Paris to talk about what to do after the US halted the arms delivery.
The US, NATO’s far out most important member, didn’t receive an invitation for this meeting organised by French President Emmanuel Macron with support of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
