Trump derails Europe’s sanctions push with call for direct Ukraine-Russia talks – Guardian
Donald Trump’s call for Ukraine to accept Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s proposal and immediately begin peace talks in Turkey has derailed Europe’s serious efforts to persuade the United States to impose new sanctions on Moscow over its rejection of a 30-day ceasefire.
This was reported by The Guardian, citing European diplomats, according to Censor.NET.
According to the outlet, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrived in Kyiv on May 10 to put pressure on Trump.
Their goal was to convince the U.S. president that Putin is stalling for time, and that Washington had no political alternative but to impose tough economic sanctions on Russia.
The outlet emphasized that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had no choice but to accept Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s invitation for talks in Istanbul on May 15, fearing he might offend Trump.
Putin, for his part, proposed the talks in order not to alienate the U.S. president and to prevent growing European pressure on Trump to support harsher sanctions. Western diplomats, however, do not believe that Trump is acting in collusion with the Kremlin.
Additional U.S. sanctions against Russia were expected not only to have economic consequences but also to send a political signal — that Trump sees Putin as an obstacle to resolving the war in Ukraine.
