U.S. lacks capacity to counter Russia, China — diplomat

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

“‘Yalta’ is fundamentally impossible because, in this situation, it’s two against one, which makes it infeasible. The attempt to return this matter to the framework of the UN Security Council, as they tried to do in 2021, is also impossible because it results in a three-to-two situation. Moscow understands this perfectly well, and for that reason, they will achieve absolutely nothing in this regard. Undoubtedly, the current goal is to redraw the global order one-on-one. Is such a scenario possible? No. It’s impossible because we must clearly understand that, even with Donald Trump’s personal motivations and desires, he is now trapped in the realization that he cannot handle the current threats facing the U.S. on his own,” Bezsmertnyi explained.

The diplomat emphasized that the United States today is in a situation where it is incapable of countering Russia and China. According to him, the U.S. lacks the potential to stand up to the combined power of China and Russia.

“That’s why Donald Trump’s call for Europe to rearm doesn’t come from the idea that America is stronger than ever, but rather from the understanding that it cannot currently confront China and Russia. And God forbid China and Russia act together—that would be a complete disaster. I say this because I’ve had access to classified briefings at the Pentagon and Pentagon reports. These documents clearly state that the U.S. currently does not have the capacity to counter the combined power of China and Russia,” he added.

Russia-Ukraine talks

On February 12, U.S. President Donald Trump had a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

According to Trump, Putin agreed that both leaders want to "stop the millions of deaths occurring in the Russia-Ukraine war."

During a media briefing at the White House, Trump mentioned that his meeting with Putin will likely take place in Saudi Arabia, though he did not specify a date.

On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump also held a phone conversation. Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his interest in what "we can do together," while the U.S. leader informed his colleague about the details of his conversation with Putin.

Trump stated that his conversation with Zelenskyy "went very well."

On February 13, following Trump's conversation with Putin, foreign ministers from France, Germany, Poland, Italy, the UK, Spain, Ukraine, and the EU issued a joint statement after a meeting in Paris.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas emphasized that any negotiations with Russia must involve Europeans and Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán criticized European officials, calling their statements "worthless" and commenting on the EU declaration stressing the need for Ukraine and Europe to be part of "any negotiations." Similarly, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico referred to Ukraine and the EU as “losers.”