Military and security expert Carlo Masala sees a withdrawal of the US government under Donald Trump from the Ukraine talks.

"Ultimately, the United States has withdrawn from this conflict as an active mediator," Masala told the news portal T-Online, referring to Trump's phone call with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. The US President declared that Moscow and Kyiv should solve the problem. "That means the Americans are out. And Trump has made it clear that he actually wants to lift sanctions in order to do business with Russia again." Masala sees the main reason for this as being the economic interests of the USA.

"Trump is on Russia's side, and for him, Ukraine is a nuisance in the normalization of relations with Russia," explained the professor of international politics at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. That's why Trump isn't imposing harsh sanctions against Russia. "The Americans have now ruled that out," the expert said. "Ultimately, the whole game is in Putin's favor." Given this, Masla also has little hope that possible negotiations in the Vatican could produce results. "The point is to offer the Vatican as a neutral venue," he explained. The US president liked the photos with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Pope Francis's funeral. "That's another crazy idea from Donald Trump." Russia, on the other hand, primarily wants to keep the US out of the talks. "As long as Putin is negotiating, the Americans will most likely not actively interfere again," Masala said. "Putin always throws some breadcrumbs at Trump's feet, which he then picks up and sells as a major success." The military expert accused the Europeans of trying to appease Trump ahead of the NATO summit in June. "The Europeans are doing everything they can to keep the US on board," Masala explained. The current "balancing act" is to ensure that there is no major scandal at the NATO summit and that Trump does not question the security guarantees for the European states. "In this balancing act, it is my impression that the NATO issue is currently much more important than the Ukraine issue."