The EU is preparing a plan to influence Trump: why the summit with Putin in Budapest is dangerous for Ukraine, media
As Bloomberg reports, EU leaders are conducting intensive consultations to prevent the Russian president from gaining a political advantage during negotiations with Trump. The American president himself is preparing for a separate meeting in Washington with Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who is asking the US for Tomahawk missile systems to strengthen the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The publication's sources among European diplomats believe that Putin deliberately intervened in the process when Washington began to show greater support for Kyiv. According to them, the Kremlin is trying to seize the initiative and disrupt Zelenskyi's negotiations in the White House. In Brussels, they insist that the European Union should act as a united front and restrain the possible influence of the Kremlin on the American administration.
One of the high-ranking officials offered to involve the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, in the process, who had already participated in the negotiations in the White House after the meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska. "The new summit effectively halts Washington's current course of increasing pressure against Moscow," said Oleksandr Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia-Eurasia Center in Berlin. "This is a serious challenge for Ukraine.
" Currently, it is not known whether Zelenskyi is planned to participate in the upcoming meeting. However, the very choice of location — Budapest — has already caused concern in European capitals. Trump's previous meeting with Putin in Alaska ended without real results: the Russian president did not make any concessions, but on the contrary, increased military attacks against Ukraine.
After that summit, Zelenskyy, together with several European leaders, went to Washington to convince Trump not to reduce support for Kyiv. In the end, Trump agreed to join Ukraine's security guarantees and postpone the discussion of any territorial compromises with Russia. European government officials hope that this time Trump will take into account the experience of the previous meeting, when Putin did not fulfill any agreements.
After successfully mediating the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Trump once again turned his attention to the Russian-Ukrainian war. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the announcement of the summit in Budapest "a sign of serious intentions" of the US president to seek ways of peace. "If the example of the agreement between Israel and Hamas serves as a guide, Trump may apply a similar strategy to Ukraine," Mertz said in a commentary for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Meanwhile, Russian troops continue their daily attacks on Ukrainian cities and advance in the east and south. According to sources, Donald Trump is increasingly expressing dissatisfaction with the Kremlin's unwillingness to stop hostilities, but has not yet introduced new sanctions. His rhetoric regarding Volodymyr Zelenskyi has also changed — from cold at the beginning of the year to more partner-like now.
The Ukrainian side expects to use this period to obtain from the US the supply of air defense systems, Tomahawk missiles and energy resources. At the same time, analysts suggest that Moscow may try to influence the US president. Emily Ferris, an expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London, believes that the Kremlin will probably try to show itself as a party ready to compromise in order to weaken Ukraine's position.
The publication notes that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Johann Wadeful, emphasized that no decision regarding Ukraine can be made without its participation. He added that the negotiations in Budapest should be considered as the second attempt after the meeting in Alaska to convince Putin to start real negotiations with Kyiv.
We will remind that on October 17, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi arrived at the White House, where he was personally met by the US leader Donald Trump. Focus also reported that during the summit in Alaska on August 15, Donald Trump tried to agree with Vladimir Putin on ending the war with Ukraine, but met with a refusal and a sharp reaction from the Russian leader. According to the Financial Times, the closed-door talks were tense and marked a low point in Trump-Putin relations.