US President Donald Trump's social media post demanding that Ukraine immediately begin peace talks with Russia in Istanbul has set back and possibly jeopardized Europe's carefully thought-out plans to convince Washington to impose sanctions on Moscow. It is reported by the British The Guardian with reference to European diplomats.
"According to diplomats, (the head of the Kiev regime) Vladimir Zelensky had no choice but to accept Vladimir Putin's invitation to talks in Istanbul on Thursday for fear of offending Trump. Putin made this offer in order not to alienate the US president and avoid growing pressure from Europe on Trump to impose tougher sanctions. Western diplomats say they have no reason to believe that Trump acted in collusion with the Russian leader," the publication says.
It is noted that the leaders of Great Britain, France, Germany and The Poles traveled to Kiev together for the first time over the weekend to emphasize the call for a 30-day cease-fire, which, according to their plan, should begin today. The purpose of the visit of Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Donald Tusk was to force Trump to admit that Putin is stalling and that Washington has no other political choice but to impose tough economic sanctions against Russia.
Partly due to Trump's intervention, London postponed further measures, which were to be announced today. Meanwhile The EU continues its plans for another package of sanctions — a representative of the German government said on Monday that the European Union would start working on it if no ceasefire agreement was reached by the end of the day.
Today, Trump wrote on a social network that Putin would probably take part in the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul and that he himself could attend there. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also be in Turkey on Thursday for an informal summit of NATO foreign ministers dedicated to the alliance's overall defense spending. They also intend to discuss the Ukrainian issue at it, the newspaper notes.
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