According to the White House, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but some media outlets reported that Moscow was waffling on the meeting. BBC News (Center) said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “watered down that already vague commitment." The Kremlin hasn’t confirmed the bilateral meeting.
The potential meeting comes after Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump met at the White House Monday to discuss a potential end to the Russia-Ukraine War. On Friday, Trump and Putin held a “Pursuing Peace” meeting in Alaska, where Zelenskyy was not in attendance. Trump contacted Zelenskyy after his and Putin’s press conference, declaring that a final deal to end the war would be up to the Ukrainian government.
In early August, Putin said Russia would agree to end the war if Ukraine completely withdrew its troops from the Donetsk province. Russia reportedly advanced through the Ukrainian front line in Donetsk days later, though Trump announced plans to try to reclaim territory for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the deal, saying, "The answer to Ukraine’s territorial question is already in the constitution of Ukraine. No one will and no one can deviate from it. Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier."
Voices on the left were generally critical of Trump’s handling of the situation, but voices on the right were split on his performance.
Thomas L. Friedman (Lean Left bias) wrote in the New York Times Opinion (Left), “When our allies have to devote this much energy just to keep the peace with our president, before they even begin to figure out how to make peace with Vladimir Putin… and when our president doesn’t understand that… Zelensky needs more than just an American marriage counselor, it all leads me to ask: How is this ever going to work?”
The American Conservative (Right) published an opinion reading, “Within these unforgiving constraints, Trump is trying to engineer a workable solution to the Russia–Ukraine war, one that will allow Ukrainians some measure of dignified security and enable the West to coexist again with Russia, a nuclear superpower… Moralizing liberals and neoconservatives have gotten Ukraine into a dreadful mess. I expect Trump the realist will get Ukraine out of it.”
An opinion in USA Today (Lean Left) read, “Trump, as always, is mistaking manipulation for respect. In the place of logic he has unquenchable narcissism. Putin, a former KGB agent, has Trump’s heart (and who knows what else) and can play him like a fiddle… the key problem – for Ukraine, for all of Europe and for the world – is that everybody besides Trump knows Putin can’t be trusted. And everybody, including Putin, knows Trump can’t be trusted. America needs a sharp leader. It elected a fussy child.”
The Washington Examiner (Lean Right) posted a piece arguing, “Trump’s inconstancy and avidity for unstinting praise, Putin’s continued determination to inflict destruction on a nation of hearts and minds he has lost, the European governments’ habit of undermining brave declarations with flaccid inaction, and the always unpredictable tides of battle could fail to end the horrifying carnage and spell disaster for the brave and resourceful Ukrainians determined to resist Russian ukase. But for now, there is some reason for optimism on Russia’s often fluctuating western border.”
