Trump’s Ukrainian peace efforts inch forward

United States President Donald Trump first talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and it was revealed that Putin had agreed not to attack the infrastructure and energy facilities, and he was also ready for a 30-day partial ceasefire which included sparing the energy and infrastructure facilities.

Then Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Zelensky was all praise for Trump’s peace initiatives, and he expressed his readiness to work “under the leadership of Trump” for peace. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump had told Zelensky that Americans would take over the electric and nuclear energy facilities in Ukraine, and the American ownership of these facilities would be a guarantee for their safety.

It appeared to be a “deal” in Trump’s sense of the term, a business deal which helped move towards peace. Further talks are awaited in Saudi Arabia, between the Americans and Russians, and between Americans and Ukrainians. Trump is hopeful that he would be able to hammer out a 30-day initial ceasefire, which would prepare the way for further talks and an agreement on a full ceasefire.

The movement seems to be slow, but it is likely to succeed. Putin appears to agree to a ceasefire on his own terms, while Zelensky would have to depend on the goodwill of Trump, and how much care Trump would take to defend Ukrainian interests.

Zelensky in his phone conversation with Trump had asked for US-made Patriotic missiles, and Trump apparently had told him that he would look into the availability of Patriotic missiles in Europe. This is also the policy that former president Joe Biden had followed. When Zelensky pleaded for F-35 fighter jets, Biden had asked Denmark and the Netherlands to provide them to Ukraine from the planes based in the two countries.

Trump seems to be falling back on conventional American responses. He is not pressurising Ukraine to agree to an immediate ceasefire. Trump is using the tried-and-tested diplomatic method of persuading and pressurising Putin and Zelensky to move towards a ceasefire. Meanwhile, the American president is reconciled to the fact that the fighting will continue between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump has turned away from his efforts to impose a ceasefire in Gaza. The Americans had negotiated directly with Hamas for the release of American hostages, dead or alive. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to have butted in and saw to it that there was no separate deal between Hamas and the United States. The ceasefire has ceased and the Israelis have launched their relentless attacks in Gaza, in which civilians are targeted. Hundreds of civilian Palestinians had died in the last three days, and many more have been injured. There is complete silence on the violence in Gaza on the part of the United States even as American diplomats meet their Russian and Ukrainian counterparts of Jeddah.

The early enthusiasm that Trump had showed of taking over Gaza and relocating the Gazans in the Arab neighbourhood has faded even as the Arab states refused to accept the proposal. Trump’s rhetorical bombast seems to have gone completely silent on the war in Gaza. The American president seems to realise that he does not have the clout to push Netanyahu as he had done with Zelensky.

Trump is facing the bumps in the real world, where things do not move according to his wishes, and though America remains the most powerful country in the world, it cannot push other countries round beyond a point. He is not even able to have his way in the deportation of “foreign criminals”, apparently from Venezuela because a Washington DC federal judge had asked the Trump administration to provide the individual details of those being sent away. And the judge had blocked the deportation. Though Trump is fuming at the judge’s defiant attitude, he feels that he does not have much of an option.