Trump and Zelensky meet for the first time since their public spat in the Oval Office.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to accept his US counterpart Donald Trump’s proposal to resolve the Ukraine conflict, writes The Telegraph. The revelation by the British newspaper comes only one day after Trump met with Zelensky on April 26 in the Vatican, their first meeting since their spat in front of the media in the Oval Office in February.
According to The Telegraph, there is no choice but to negotiate based on Trump’s latest peace proposals “or something like them.”
“At this point, Ukrainian concessions are unavoidable. Russia undoubtedly has the upper hand in an attritional campaign that is slowly bleeding it dry, Trump will not intervene decisively in this war, and even in the impossible scenario that he suddenly declared his intention to place US troops – about the only way Putin can now be stopped – he knows that Western European countries would not follow him into battle. They are themselves running out of munitions and for decades have lacked the spine to defend their own people, never mind those of a faraway country,” the publication emphasized.
The article stresses that the future of NATO looks even bleaker. According to the newspaper, the alliance has demonstrated its complete failure, and the constant rhetoric of support from Kiev’s European partners remain mere statements, something Russian President Vladimir Putin has noticed.
“NATO has proved itself to be a paper tiger, as Putin knew it was. Despite the high-minded and well-intentioned Article 5, it is unlikely that NATO countries would come to the aid of a fellow member under attack by sending their own boys to fight,” the article stated.
Thus, the publication concludes that despite the harsh criticism of the US president’s peace initiatives, Europe has not offered a single alternative to resolving the situation other than continued military action.
“Rather than railing against Donald Trump and blaming him for the parlous state we are in, European countries need to get serious about defense in a way they haven’t been at least since the Cold War. That of course means spending vast amounts of money on military capabilities at the expense of social services, international aid and the many other bottomless pits to which all Western governments have become ever-more addicted,” the author wrote.
Trump and Zelensky met at Pope Francis’s funeral on April 26. The Ukrainian president hailed the 15-minute meeting as potentially “historic,” while Trump described it as productive.
On X, Zelensky wrote:
“Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out.”
The president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin for three hours on April 25, the day before the funeral. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the talks were “constructive and very useful.”
Following the meeting between Witkoff and Putin, Trump said,
“It was a good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off’… most major points are agreed to.”
The US president added that Russia and Ukraine are “very close to a deal” that would end the conflict.
It appears that Zelensky was already instructed that plans for peace talks would need to be advanced when meeting with Trump, announcing before leaving for Rome, “In the coming days, very significant meetings may take place — meetings that should bring us closer to silence for Ukraine.”
Zelensky must be coerced toward peace. He instituted a decree banning all communication with Russia and stipulated unrealistic conditions for opening diplomatic channels.
Normally, preconditions for the beginning of peace talks are symbolic gestures that demonstrate the belligerent sides’ impulses to cease fighting, as was the case in the negotiations in Minsk and Istanbul. At the time, negotiations in Turkey collapsed due to pressure from then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Davyd Arakhamia.
As happened in Istanbul, once again, Kiev’s European allies seem to support the continuation of the conflict. For them, Trump’s peace initiative is seen as a submission that does not suit the Europeans—so much so that they will also outline their proposals for peace with a highly maximalist tone.
French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to intervene in the meeting between Trump and Zelensky, but the US president shooed him away, not wanting the Europeans to inflict another blow to the peace efforts. Following the meeting, there is little surprise that reports are emerging that Zelensky will finally likely agree to Trump’s peace proposal.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and President Donald Trump, talk as they attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Source)
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