-Analysis-
PARIS — Over the past three days, Russia has sent more than 1,000 drones and missiles to shell Ukrainian cities, particularly the capital, Kyiv, causing widespread death and destruction. It is a major escalation at a time when, if we were to listen to Donald Trump, Russia and Ukraine should be negotiating an end to the war.
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No one in their right mind believed for a second what the U.S. president said after his telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin last week; it actually sounded rather like an abandonment of Ukraine: at the time, I compared Trump to Pontius Pilate washing his hands of it.
And indeed, it was only when Volodymyr Zelensky wondered aloud about the “silence” of the United States in the face of the brutal bombing escalation that Trump snapped out of his Ukrainian lethargy with an unexpected tweet. Putin has “gone absolutely crazy,” he wrote, adding that “something has happened to him…” As if the Russian president’s behavior had become irrational when he’s simply continuing a war he started more than three years ago.
Donald Trump often uses the word “loser” to refer to people he despises — and he never wants it used about him. Yet Putin behaves as if Trump’s word has no value, at the risk of making him look like, well, a “loser!”
This explains the U.S. president’s astonishment at his Russian friend’s behavior, a comment that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday sarcastically attributed to “emotional overload”.
Trying to save face
For good measure, Trump also threw a dig at Zelensky, the victim of all those bombings, pointing out that he talks too much!?
All this would be pathetic and pointless if it weren’t for the stakes
All this would be pathetic and pointless if it weren’t for the stakes of war and peace in Ukraine, of life and death. The failure of Trump, who had wanted to settle the Ukrainian conflict in 24 hours, is complete: the President of the United States has just been given the royal runaround by Vladimir Putin, and is now desperately trying to save his face.
From Vietnam, where he is currently on a visit, French President Emmanuel Macron voiced his hope yesterday that Trump’s “anger” would “turn into action.” In other words, imposing tougher sanctions against Russia, as Trump seemed willing to do 10 days ago if Putin refused to a ceasefire and negotiate. There we are, and Trump is up against it.
Merz’s stance
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that, in the face of Russia’s escalation, there were no longer any restrictions on the use of Western missiles delivered to Ukraine, including allowing them to be fired on Russian territory. If confirmed by the Americans, this would be a real turning point.
Merz refused to say whether Germany would deliver Taurus missiles, which his predecessor Olaf Scholz refused to supply to Ukraine — he did not want to give Russia any specific information, which would seem to indicate a positive response.
The German leader predicted that the war was likely to go on for a long time yet. Donald Trump’s round of shadow boxing with Putin is over: it’s more than a setback, it’s the end of illusions about his ability to reshape the world by his will alone. It remains to be seen what lessons he will draw from this, for Ukraine and for the world.
