Trump likely to grow furious over being used by Putin — U.S. diplomat Bryza

He shared his opinions on Espreso TV.

“I don’t think Donald Trump really knows what he wants. Whether it’s in the case of Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine or his economic policies, his tariff approach, we’ve seen him threaten new tariffs on Mexico and Canada almost daily, only to pull them back. It’s as if he doesn’t really have an overall strategy when it comes to trade policy. Similarly, with Ukraine, he is not operating according to the rules of the international system that the United States helped develop after the Second World War, as you mentioned. He is also not following any sort of strategic vision, as far as I can tell. He simply wants a deal because he believes he’s the world’s greatest dealmaker,” Matthew Bryza said.

According to him, Putin also understands that after all the sacrifice, blood, and treasure Russia has wasted on this war, they cannot simply end it and pretend everything is fine just because Donald Trump asked him to end the war. This is why it’s impossible for the ceasefire to last. 

“Trump, I think, really does not care about the Russia-Ukraine war, about Russia's invasion and occupation of Ukraine. I really don't think he cares about Ukraine at all. I think all Trump wants is to be able to say he is a peacemaker and that he was the one, the only person on Earth who could broker a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. I think Trump is going to have to recalibrate his thinking soon because, as I was saying, I do not believe that President Putin will extend a 30-day ceasefire if he even accepts it,” the diplomat noted.

In his opinion, sooner or later, there will come a moment when Donald Trump is furious that Vladimir Putin has taken advantage of him because Putin was never serious about a ceasefire. Then, Trump will have to rethink his approach.

“Trump will have to look for new instruments or tools to put pressure on Putin. First and foremost, I think there will be serious economic pressure that Trump will impose on Putin. But beyond that, I don’t believe President Trump has a framework for dealing with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He thinks he is going to create peace through a ceasefire, and then that will be the end of the conflict as far as the U.S. is concerned. After that, it will be up to the European Commission and the European members of NATO to make the peace last and to develop security guarantees, with the U.S. no longer involved,” Bryza concluded.

• On March 11, the Ukrainian and American delegations met in Jeddah, following which Kyiv agreed to a 30-day ceasefire with Russia, and the United States agreed to immediately resume intelligence sharing and security assistance.
• Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin stated that Russia agrees with the proposal to cease hostilities in Ukraine but emphasized that “this must lead to a long-term peace.” 
• During a meeting with NATO’s Mark Rutte, Trump called Putin’s 30-day ceasefire proposal promising but said it lacked key details.
• The White House clarified U.S. President Donald Trump's statement regarding communication with Vladimir Putin, explaining that he did not speak with the Russian leader on March 13; the dialogue involved Special Representative Steve Witkoff.