What is the secret behind canceling the Trump-Putin summit, and have peace efforts in Ukraine faltered? | policy

The sudden abstention from holding a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest raised many questions and doubts about the fate of the war between Russia and Ukraine, especially since this abstention came after optimism about the imminence of a breakthrough that would end more than 3 years of that war.

In recent days, there has been a state of optimism about the possibility of the success of American efforts to end the war in Ukraine, following a phone call between Trump and Putin, after which it was announced that they intend to hold a summit in the Hungarian capital next week.

But a senior White House official confirmed to Reuters that there are no plans to hold a summit between Trump and Putin in the near future, adding that there are also no plans to hold a direct meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that Russia, after the US administration postponed its decision to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, has almost automatically become less interested in diplomacy, a hint that Moscow is betting on weak Western military support for Kiev.

However, former US State Department official Thomas Warrick explains the decision to withdraw from holding the summit in Budapest with the disappointment that struck Trump, who thought that he had a very good conversation with Putin and that the latter was interested in peace, but when the US Secretary of State spoke with his Russian counterpart, he found that there was no radical change in the position of Putin and Russia.

Warrick believes – in statements to the Beyond the News program – that Moscow is still determined to change Ukraine’s path that its people, its government, and the West want, “and for this reason everything seems to be on hold now until President Trump changes his position again.”

In contrast to this point of view, Russian writer and political analyst Andrei Ontikov holds President Zelensky responsible for canceling the Trump-Putin summit. According to his opinion, the phone call between the Russian and American presidents showed a kind of understanding between them, which could crystallize into something greater during the summit.

He added, “But the discussions that took place later between the American president and the Ukrainian president emptied the conclusions reached by Presidents Trump and Putin of their content.”

President Trump had met his Ukrainian counterpart after his phone call with Putin, and according to what was leaked, the meeting witnessed a lot of tension, and that Trump was in a nervous state during it.

Concessions to Ukraine

According to Ontikov, there was an understanding between Trump and Putin on the need for Ukraine to make some concessions, especially with regard to the withdrawal of the Ukrainian army from some areas in Donbass, which is acceptable to Russia.

However, he pointed out that Ukraine is not backing down from its position, as Zelensky insists on a ceasefire on a dividing line, considering that this fundamental disagreement between Russia and Ukraine caused at least the postponement of the summit.

But European affairs analyst Daniel Boehmer went on to hold the Russian side responsible for postponing the summit and faltering peace efforts. He considered that the main obstacle is that Russia is demanding territorial concessions from Ukraine before ceasefire talks begin, which makes Russia appear as if it does not want to enter into peace talks, according to his opinion.

He pointed out that what the Americans and Europeans heard before the upcoming Budapest summit was that Ukraine must be prepared to give up territory at some point, considering that perhaps it was possible for Ukraine to give up some territory at some point, but not as a precondition for entering into negotiations.

As for the proposed European-Ukrainian plan, Warrick stressed that this offer made by the Europeans and Ukrainians was suitable as a prelude to a ceasefire and negotiations.

But he pointed out that they had not even reached that point, because Russia insists that Ukraine give up the territory before negotiations begin, so he saw that there would be no negotiations because President Trump “is not interested in peace on Russia’s terms.”

Regarding the options available to Russia, Ontikov confirmed that Moscow entered the door to negotiation during the summit that was scheduled in Budapest, stressing that entering the door to negotiation does not mean accepting everything offered to Russia by other countries.

The Russian writer explained that Moscow would not agree to a ceasefire on a dividing line because this ceasefire would lead to the re-arming of Ukraine and the resumption of combat operations.