New meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump

If such a meeting takes place, it will compensate for the failure of the U.S,-Ukraine summit that was to take place on the sidelines of the G7 summit.

After Donald Trump hastily left the meeting of the leaders of world democracies, many said that he could have run away from an unpleasant meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. However, I honestly would not exaggerate the American president's desire not to meet with the Ukrainian president against the backdrop of all other events.

The meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy was indeed carefully prepared by the White House. According to information from diplomatic circles, as much as 40 minutes were planned for the meeting between the American and Ukrainian presidents. That is, it would not have been some kind of protocol meeting for taking pictures, but a really thorough discussion of fundamental issues of U.S.-Ukrainian relations and the future of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

But it's worth recalling that Donald Trump had to meet with several other world leaders, contacts with whom are no less, and perhaps more, important to him than meeting with the Ukrainian president. Thus, the G7 summit in Canada was attended by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was present. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present.

And the United States has a rather important set of relationships with each of these countries. Political, strategic, military, and migration-related. I must say that Trump even called Claudia Sheinbaum after he left the G7 summit and promised her a separate meeting.

So we can really assume that Trump has run away, not from Zelenskyy, but from his colleagues in the Group of Seven. The fact is that the president of the United States simply does not feel very comfortable as the leader of the largest democracy in the modern world, because for him the United States is the largest, but not so much a democracy as an economic and military power.

And when he gets together with leaders of countries who remind him that he is responsible not only for the economy, but also for democracy and values, the American president starts to get bored. Obviously, he feels much more comfortable during phone conversations with Russian leader Putin. Because the two leaders do not talk about any democratic values, but can only discuss with each other the issues of deals that are beneficial for Trump. And these deals are the only thing that interests the American president and those in his entourage who hope to use Trump to boost their own political careers and, of course, to enrich themselves.

So now a completely different question arises. Will Trump and Zelenskyy meet during the NATO summit in The Hague?

Again, this depends not on whether Trump wants to meet with Zelenskyy, but on how comfortable the unpredictable American leader will feel during a meeting of the leaders of the North Atlantic Alliance.

After all, Trump does not feel very comfortable in the NATO format either, and moreover, the presence of the United States in the North Atlantic Alliance is also a problem for building good relations between the United States and the Russian Federation. And thus, to the deals that the White House dreams of. Now the Trump administration is emphasizing that his visit to The Hague is planned, but no one knows what will happen in the coming days.

Trump certainly did not run away from the G7 summit in Canada because of the events in the Middle East. As we can see, after he returned to the United States, he did not immediately meet with members of his foreign policy team. And he still cannot decide in what format the United States will or will not participate in Israel's war against Iran. But the truth is that a lot can really change in the next few days.

The United States' participation in Israel's operation against Iran could unexpectedly and dramatically change the relationship between Washington and Moscow. Or perhaps even between Washington and Beijing, bringing the nuclear powers to the brink of a real major conflict. And this conflict may be in full swing, hopefully only a political one, on the very day when the leaders of NATO member states meet in The Hague.

Perhaps the sharp deterioration in relations between the United States and the Russian Federation, which is inevitable in the event of American involvement in the war with Iran and which the Russian Foreign Ministry has clearly and explicitly warned about, can help the leaders of democratic countries to bring the United States back to the side of the world's democracies from the flirtations with authoritarianism that have become the obvious political style of the American president since his first ignominious tenure in the White House.

Perhaps Donald Trump doesn't fully grasp the depth of risks and problems that could arise if he decides to involve the U.S. in a war with Iran.

Another point is also quite important. The United States' non-participation in the war between Israel and Iran could also create a rather unpredictable situation in the Middle East, particularly with the security of Israel itself, which could also change the foreign policy plans of the American president and force him to refrain from traveling to Europe. But another thing is obvious. The President of Ukraine needs this meeting to discuss issues that are fundamental to the future of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine clearly do not look promising. Ukraine needs to reach an agreement with the United States, if not on aid, then on the purchase of American weapons by Ukraine. This is in a situation where the Middle East war will require more and more weapons from the United States itself for its own army and to help Israel. We also need to discuss the issue of new sanctions against the Russian Federation.

Of course, these sanctions will have no real impact on the further period of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and will be a signal that the United States is not ready to reach an understanding with the Russian Federation, at least economically. If Russian leader Putin does not give up on further war of attrition with Ukraine.

What is clear now is that the symbolic bill being discussed in the U.S. Congress will certainly not be passed in June and may be discussed in July. And that Senator Lindsey Graham and other congressional representatives continue to work on a new version of the bill. Which, however, will affect the economic capabilities of the Russian Federation no more than the previous one, which is associated with staggering duties against those countries that buy Russian products. Duties that are unlikely to be imposed on Russia's main economic allies, such as China or India.

So a conversation with Trump is necessary not only for Zelenskyy himself, but also for Ukraine and our European allies. But no one knows today whether it will actually happen.

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About the author. Vitaly Portnikov, journalist, winner of the Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine

The editorial team does not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.