Putin seeks to prolong Ukraine war until Trump leaves office — journalist Portnikov

Jounalist Vitaly Portnikov shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

“The only significant outcome of the Alaska meeting was that Trump did not side with Putin. I believe that was the main goal for the Ukrainian president and the European leaders visiting Washington. We must understand that Putin is trying to create opportunities for the American president so that no new sanctions are imposed on Russia and so that Trump refrains from providing military aid to Ukraine. 

So far, it must be noted, Putin is succeeding. After Trump’s initial 50-day ultimatum, later shortened to 10 days, Putin faces a difficult challenge: to give Trump that opportunity through actions, not just words, since he has already exhausted his verbal reserves. Donald Trump took advantage of the opportunity provided by Putin. Despite White House statements that new sanctions would be imposed on Russia if they did not cease fire, and that meetings would not prevent this, Trump still refused to impose new sanctions and even abandoned the idea of a ceasefire,” Portnikov explained.

The journalist emphasized that U.S. President Donald Trump is showing restraint and is keen to accelerate the end of Russia’s war against Ukraine. However, as Portnikov noted, Trump lacks effective tools to pressure Putin.

“Trump has now abandoned the idea of a ceasefire in the Russian-Ukrainian war, instead speaking about comprehensive peace. This is not his idea, it comes from Putin, who constantly promotes it. Trump is essentially defending Putin’s position. Putin believes that comprehensive peace can be negotiated during the war and that these negotiations can continue throughout Trump’s term in office. In fact, his main goal is to prolong the war until Trump leaves the White House. 

Only then will he consider how to deal with the next U.S. president and how to pressure Ukraine to surrender. Until that time, he will continue aerial attacks on Ukraine and occupy new territories. The question, however, is whether Trump himself will be satisfied with this approach. I find it hard to understand, because while we see that the American president is impatient and wants things to happen faster, he has no leverage over Putin to accelerate the process,” the journalist emphasized.

• On August 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House, where he was received by U.S. President Donald Trump. The leaders first held a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, followed by talks with European leaders and NATO Secretary General. Discussions then continued in an expanded format.
• After the meetings, Trump announced that he had begun preparations for a potential meeting between Zelenskyy and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
• Following the White House summit, U.S. President Trump contacted Russian leader Putin.
• Ukrainian President Zelensky stated that he was ready for a bilateral meeting with Putin without any preconditions.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later commented that Russia is not refusing either bilateral or trilateral peace talks with Ukraine.