KYIV – As Ukraine approached the three-year mark of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the nation’s hoped-for path to a good and lasting peace was upended in a matter of days by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kyiv had benefited from years of staunch assist by its allies in the USA and Europe which had offered essential navy and monetary assist to assist defend towards Moscow’s grinding incursions.
However when Trump held a prolonged cellphone name with Russian President Vladimir Putin final week — undoing years of U.S. coverage to isolate the Russian chief over his aggression — it was taken as a sign in Kyiv and different European capitals that their alliance to comprise Moscow was fraying.
Right here’s a timeline of occasions:
Wednesday, Feb. 12
On their 90-minute name, Trump and Putin agreed to start negotiations to finish the war, a transfer that was met with jubilation in Russia however which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned can be “ very dangerous ” if Ukraine have been excluded from talks.
Though Trump spoke to Zelenskyy instantly after the Putin name, U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned that day that NATO membership for Ukraine, one thing Kyiv believes would defend the nation and Europe from future Russian assaults, was unrealistic. He urged Ukraine ought to abandon hopes of profitable all its territory again, a perspective that’s remarkably close to Moscow’s.
The breakneck velocity of Trump’s transformation of U.S. coverage towards Ukraine and Russia left many war-weary Ukrainians feeling that they were being left out of the dialog on their future, and fearing {that a} deal compelled by Washington and Moscow would lead to misplaced territory and vulnerability to future Russian aggression.
Friday, Feb. 14
European leaders had their first probability to satisfy with members of the brand new Trump administration on the Munich Safety Convention in Germany, the place they hoped to achieve readability on Trump’s strategy to the battle.
However leaders have been surprised as senior U.S. officers together with Vice President JD Vance lambasted European nations, gave combined indicators on assist for Kyiv and urged Europe wouldn’t be on the desk for negotiations on Ukraine.
Throughout extremely anticipated talks between Vance and Zelenskyy in Munich, the Ukrainian chief informed Vance that his nation wanted safety ensures as a precondition for participating in any talks with Moscow to finish the battle.
Zelenskyy additionally mentioned he’d ordered his ministers to not log off on a proposed agreement to provide the USA entry to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, a key a part of his talks with Vance. Ukrainian officers mentioned the U.S. proposal didn’t provide any particular safety ensures in return for entry to Ukraine’s vast reserves of critical minerals which might be used within the aerospace, protection and nuclear industries.
A senior White Home official described Zelenskyy’s refusal as “short-sighted.”
Sunday, Feb. 16
On the ultimate day of the convention, French President Emmanuel Macron started rallying European leaders to fortify their assist for Ukraine, along with his international minister asserting an emergency “working assembly” in Paris to evaluate the continent’s subsequent steps.
In the meantime, amid considerations that U.S. assist for Kyiv was faltering, a gaggle of European nations was quietly working on a plan to ship troops into Ukraine to assist implement any future peace settlement with Russia.
Tuesday, Feb. 18
U.S. and Russian officers met for talks in Saudi Arabia’s capital, sidestepping Kyiv and its European backers. The 2 nations agreed to work collectively to finish the battle in Ukraine and to enhance diplomatic and financial ties, a unprecedented about-face in U.S. international coverage.
But the three U.S. principals on the assembly in Riyadh — Secretary of State Marco Rubio, nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s particular Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff — maintained that the four-hour dialogue was aimed primarily at assessing Russia’s seriousness about wanting a peace deal.
All three mentioned publicly that no particular proposals had been placed on the desk, and that it remained to be seen if the Russians have been keen to barter in good religion.
Additionally they rejected assertions that both Ukraine or the Europeans have been being excluded, noting that though they weren’t current in Riyadh, Trump, Vance and Rubio had all spoken with each Zelenskyy and European officers who can be concerned if and when peace talks truly begin.
Zelenskyy dismissed the talks, saying they’d “yield no outcomes” within the absence of Ukrainian participation. He postponed a plan to go to Riyadh the subsequent day to keep away from any linkage of his journey with the U.S.-Russia assembly.
Trump confirmed little endurance for Kyiv’s objections to being sidelined in Riyadh, and ramped up inflammatory rhetoric that induced anger and alarm in Ukraine and appeared to contradict the assurances that Rubio, Waltz and Witkoff had endeavored to offer.
Talking from his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump made the jarring suggestion that Ukraine itself was accountable for starting the war that has price tens of 1000’s of Ukrainian lives, and criticized Zelenksyy for Ukraine delaying elections due to the invasion, in accordance with the Ukrainian Structure.
Wednesday, Feb. 19
Trump’s feedback, and a Wednesday put up on social media that known as Zelenskyy a “dictator,” led to Zelenskyy saying that a few of the president’s claims have been “disinformation” that originated in Russia, and that he would love Trump’s staff “to be extra truthful.”
Trump, Zelenskyy mentioned, resides in a Russian-made “disinformation area.”
As relations between the 2 leaders eroded, one factor remained on the horizon that some observers thought may serve to decrease the temperature on the disagreements between Washington and Kyiv: Trump’s particular envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Ret. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, arrived in Ukraine’s capital by prepare Wednesday morning for discussions with Zelenskyy and different officers.
Kellogg has lengthy been Trump’s prime adviser on protection points. He was as a consequence of converse with Zelenskyy about Trump’s efforts to finish the battle, and the Ukrainian chief had beforehand mentioned he appeared ahead to explaining what was occurring in Ukraine to Kellogg and accompanying him to see the entrance line.
Thursday, Feb. 20
A information convention that was set to comply with a gathering between Zelenskyy and Kellogg was abruptly cancelled at the request of the U.S. delegation.
Friday, Feb. 21
In a complimentary gesture that stood in stark distinction with the tone of the previous days, Kellogg wrote on X that he’d had a “lengthy and intense day with the senior management of Ukraine.”
He mentioned he’d had positive discussions with “the embattled and brave chief of a nation at battle and his proficient nationwide safety staff.”
Nonetheless, Trump continued to put into Zelenskyy, grumbling {that a} go to to Kyiv final week by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was “a wasted journey” after the Ukrainian facet declined to conform to a U.S. proposal to obtain income on uncommon earth minerals.
On the similar time, Waltz, Trump’s nationwide safety adviser, expressed confidence that Zelenskyy would seal a rare earths deal. “Right here’s the underside line. President Zelenskyy goes to signal that deal,” Waltz mentioned.
Trump, chatting with “The Brian Kilmeade Present” on Fox Information radio, additionally dismissed Zelenskyy’s complaints about not being included within the Saudi talks. He voiced certainty that Putin wished to strike a deal.
“He doesn’t need to make a deal,” Trump mentioned of Putin. “As a result of if he wished, he would get the entire nation.”
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Related Press writers Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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Comply with AP’s protection of the battle in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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