Trump suffers first setback in talks with Putin — Russian opposition expert

He shared this opinion in an interview with Antin Borkovskyi, host of the Studio West program on Espreso TV.

"Everyone already understands that Putin essentially rejected the 30-day ceasefire without preconditions, although Kyiv agreed to it in negotiations with the U.S. This will not happen. What Putin is offering are endless, slow negotiations in which Trump plans to participate: forming groups and holding these various consultations for several months. These won’t even be negotiations, but merely consultations on what can be done in the economic or sports sectors. There may even be a group formed on the war. But all of these will be consultation groups that do not lead to solving the problem," said Aleksandr Morozov.

According to him, it is not entirely clear what Trump's plan is. If Trump is seeking a ceasefire without preconditions, that is, a regime of silence, then this can be seen as a very reasonable first step to ensure that diplomatic successes can be achieved in these 30 days and that such a regime can be extended. And maybe over time it will turn into something else.

“But if there is no first step, I would say that if you are looking from somewhere in Central Asia or, for example, from the state of Texas, the announcement that an agreement has been reached to stop the strikes on energy infrastructure is some kind of event, some kind of step. But if you are in the middle of the situation, in Central Europe, in Hungary, in Ukraine, or in Russia, or in the Baltic States, it is very clear that this is not what was expected. Thus, Trump has been defeated on the first move in these negotiations, and then he has to somehow get out of it,” the political analyst commented.

In his opinion, this is a very bad situation because now Trump will get involved in it, and there will be ongoing negotiation tracks. However, all of this harms Europe and European consolidation. It also harms Ukraine, as it keeps Kyiv and the Ukrainian administration in a constant state of waiting, having to respond to every insignificant step. The problem is that in such a situation, Kyiv cannot just come out and say, "No, that's it! Enough!" because it depends on the supply of American weapons. And no matter what Trump does or says, Kyiv will have to support it.

"And the refusal of the U.S. to provide military support to Ukraine, the dismantling of the global alliance supporting Ukraine – all of this is unacceptable for Ukraine. The same situation applies to European countries. They cannot say, 'No, we don’t want peace,' – that is impossible, so every head of state in such a situation has to say, 'We, so to speak, welcome at least any first steps, but at the same time…' – and then comes the 'but.' And Macron, Scholz, Starmer, and all others in Europe say 'but.' This doesn’t mean that the problem can be solved without Ukraine, that it can be solved without the participation of the European Union, or that through these negotiations, which have begun, Ukraine’s support, both military and economic, can be stopped. No, that is impossible," Morozov concluded.

• On March 18, U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. According to both parties, they agreed on a limited stop in attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.