FLASH
Shkruar nga Peter Beaumont
Trump's silence on Russian attacks on Ukraine highlights diplomatic failure...
Kiev woke up today to a nightmare. First, there was a short, repeated sound of air defense firing on the outskirts of the city. As soon as the guns stopped, there was the sound of drone engines rapidly approaching, followed by a brief moment of silence and then a sudden explosion.
But after two days of heavy Russian bombing that hit civilian buildings across Ukraine, the response from Donald Trump has been silence.
Within days of the first round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since March 2022 ending without any results and no signs of a ceasefire, the failure of Trump's intervention should be clear.
Although he boasted before his inauguration as US president that he would end the war within 24 hours, he has actually emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin by refusing to press for an immediate ceasefire – supported by Europe – or impose meaningful sanctions.
Since Trump's two-hour phone call with Putin last Monday, the Russian leader has made his disdain clear, with the US Defense Intelligence Agency itself predicting that Moscow will continue the fighting throughout this year.
Following that call, Putin ordered the creation of a “security buffer zone” along Ukraine’s eastern border. Attacks on civilian targets appear to be intensifying, culminating in two consecutive nights of aerial bombardment, including Saturday night — the heaviest airstrike of the war so far, with nearly 300 drones and nearly 70 missiles.
Ukrainian and Western officials expect Russia to try again for a major offensive this summer, although there is much skepticism about its effectiveness, due to Moscow's heavy losses.
The reality is that, with the stalemate on the ground, long-range drone warfare on both sides is becoming increasingly important, even if it does not bring territorial victory.
With Russian and Ukrainian factories producing thousands of new drones, the war has become sophisticated: Russia is heavily using deception and systems to mislead air defenses.
While Ukraine has attacked bases and factories, including those producing fiber optic cables for a new generation of combat drones, Russia's goal appears to be simply to hit the civilian population. In recent days, drones and missiles have hit apartment buildings, homes, and student dormitories.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted sharply, condemning "America's silence... which is encouraging Putin."
His words raise a more fundamental question: Has Trump already abandoned, as he has long threatened, his superficial attempt to end the war?
When a US official finally responded to condemn the attacks, what was missing – any reference that Moscow was responsible – was as significant as the statement itself.
In a post on X, Trump's envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, condemned the attacks under a photo of fires in the Ukrainian capital: "This is Kiev. The indiscriminate killing of women and children at night, in their homes, is a flagrant violation of the 1977 Geneva Protocols. These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. Ceasefire now," he wrote.
Professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, Phillips O'Brien, wrote in his newsletter on the war that, far from bringing a breakthrough, the recent talks have removed any pretense that the US was honestly mediating.
"Monday ended the farce we've been watching for months. The farce was that Trump was trying to negotiate a deal between Ukraine and Russia that would suit both sides. The reality has always been that Trump was trying to force Ukraine to make major concessions and help Putin achieve his strategic objectives," he wrote this weekend.
If Trump has already withdrawn, it raises many difficult questions for Kiev: will the US continue to provide Ukraine with sufficient military aid? And most importantly: can Europe fill the diplomatic and military vacuum this withdrawal is creating?
What is clear to Ukrainians – despite recent weeks of headlines talking about progress in peace talks – is that, without pressure from Washington and without accelerated aid from Europe, the war will continue. And nights like Saturday’s will be repeated. / Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “The Guardian”
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