Portnykov outlines three key points of Trump's plan for Ukraine

Journalist Vitaliy Portnykov shared this view on Espreso.

"Trump is acting logically within his worldview. His plan is clear to me: he wants a ceasefire at any cost, without offering security guarantees. He doesn’t even fully understand what guarantees he could provide," he said.

The next step, according to Portnykov, is to push for elections to remove Zelenskyy. He noted that Zelenskyy is following a similar trajectory to Poroshenko in 2019.

"This is a specific goal I spoke about long before the U.S. presidential election. It’s not just about Zelenskyy — it’s the so-called ‘Poroshenko syndrome.’ They keep searching for a Ukrainian president they believe can strike a deal with Putin. Remember 2019, when Zelenskyy became the frontrunner: his victory was met with relief in Moscow, where they assumed, under vague assumptions, that he would surrender. Even Western embassies were hopeful. If you speak to the heads of major Western embassies from that time — who now present themselves as strong Ukraine supporters — you’ll find they genuinely believed Poroshenko couldn’t negotiate with Putin, but a new president could. The same accusations made against Poroshenko are now being directed at Zelenskyy," Portnykov said.

He added that any future Ukrainian president, if not Zelenskyy, will face the same challenge.

The third point in Trump's plan is a prolonged negotiation process that neither leads to Ukraine’s collapse nor ends the war outright, Portnykov explained.

"The goal is to drag out negotiations for the length of Trump’s presidency. Trump operates on the principle of ‘I don’t care what happens after me.’ He needs to make this happen. Cutting Ukraine’s military aid is a way to pressure it into a ceasefire without conditions. This, in turn, forces Zelenskyy to stop making demands and drop security guarantees," he said.

Trump, Portnykov noted, is irritated that Russia continues missile strikes on Ukraine despite his decision to halt military aid.

"He expected Russia to appreciate the conditions he created for a ceasefire. But Russia doesn’t care about his image, and more importantly, it has no interest in stopping the war. Eventually, it will become obvious that the Russians won’t cease fire, and they will treat Trump the same way they treat anyone else trying to negotiate with them," he added.

• Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said that reaching a resolution might be easier with Moscow, claiming that dealing with Ukraine is getting harder.
• Meanwhile, former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton has criticized Trump, arguing that he is making concessions to Moscow and showing weakness in his approach to ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.