Trump-Zelensky, Ukraine's opening to the trilateral talks with Putin and a return to the polls: is this a turning point for war?

And the day of the " side summits" came. The day when Donald Trump met in the evening and night at the White House first with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and then with the European leaders (EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen , Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron , German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte ) who had gathered in Washington.

Judgment Day. Take it or leave it.

For Trump, Zelensky "can end the war " with Russia, triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, " almost immediately," ruling out Kiev regaining control of Crimea , annexed by Russia in 2014, and joining NATO. In a post on Truth, the American president wrote that " if he wanted, Ukrainian President Zelensky could end the war with Russia almost immediately, or he could continue to fight." "It's important to remember how it all began. This isn't about getting back Crimea, which Obama ceded 12 years ago, without firing a single shot, and this isn't about Ukraine joining NATO, " he added in the post ahead of the talks in Washington. " Some things never change."

The message is clear: take it or leave it.

But The Donald doesn't want to be seen as someone who passively accepted the "Pax Russa." So let's get on with the rumors. "If Donetsk is what we're talking about here, and there are no concessions, we just have to not prolong this conversation any further," Trump stated peremptorily, addressing Putin during the Anchorage summit on Friday, as a source cited by Axios explained yesterday. The Kremlin tsar, who had insisted that Russia be granted the entire region, which he now controls 75 percent, where he is unable to breach the 'fortified belt' that Kiev refuses to relinquish (a line of contact much stronger than the region's administrative border could ever be), has backtracked, the source further explains. American intelligence has no unanimous assessment of the Russian military's ability to conquer all of Donetsk in the short term, thus offering Putin the negotiating power to demand it at the negotiating table. While one analysis predicts a Russian breakthrough by October, another explains that the Russian effort will continue to encounter resistance from Kiev's forces.

And again: “For three days, the mainstream media has been saying that I suffered a 'serious defeat' for allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold an important summit in the United States . In reality, he would have preferred to meet me anywhere other than the United States, and the mainstream media knows this well. It was a very controversial point!” So wrote in a post on Social Truth. “If we had held the summit elsewhere, the Democrat-controlled media would have said it was a terrible thing. These people are sick!” he added. Russians “ are aware that today (yesterday, ed.) a meeting will be held in Washington where the end of the war will be discussed”, “everyone seeks a dignified peace and real security. And right now, the Russians are attacking Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, the Sumy region and Odessa, destroying residential buildings and our civilian infrastructure ”. Volodymyr Zelensky wrote this on social media. “ This is why reliable security guarantees are needed. This is why Russia should not be rewarded for its participation in this war,” he added.

“The Russians are deliberately killing people, especially children. So far, seven people have been killed in a drone strike in Kharkiv, the youngest of whom is a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, and dozens have been injured, including children. In Zaporizhia, missile strikes injured 20 people and killed three. There was also a deliberate Russian attack on an energy plant in Odessa. The Russian war machine continues to destroy lives despite everything.” According to the Ukrainian president, “ Putin will commit demonstrative killings to maintain pressure on Ukraine and Europe, as well as to humiliate diplomatic efforts. This is precisely why we are seeking assistance to end these killings. This is why reliable security guarantees are needed. This is why Russia should not be rewarded for its participation in this war. The war must end. And it is Moscow that must hear the word: 'Stop,'” he concludes. But the tycoon doesn't quite agree with this. Take it or leave it.

FROM

Umberto De Giovannangeli