Yuri Kobzar16:22, 15.05.25

Russia has openly sabotaged both the peace talks and the ceasefire proposal, but the US president’s only response has been a weak statement in the style of “I knew it would be like this.”

The Kremlin’s “diplomatic hide-and-seek” in Turkey has demonstrated Vladimir Putin’s blatant disregard for both threats of new sanctions from Europe and Donald Trump’s peaceful aspirations, writes CNN’s Kyiv correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. 

In his opinion, for Putin, joint photos with Trump, and even more so with Zelensky, are a much greater danger than the risk of further angering Europe or the US president. 

According to Walsh, Putin’s gamble to ignore the proposed meeting with Zelensky in Turkey has already paid off. Rather than getting angry at Putin’s categorical refusal to speak with the Ukrainian president, Trump said he had not expected the Russian dictator to show up in Istanbul in the first place.

The journalist notes that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is now in an awkward position. He is forced to stay in Turkey long enough to show Trump that he is serious about negotiations. In doing so, he must either refuse to meet with the Russian delegation, which deliberately has the lowest possible level of diplomatic representation, or engage with it, starting a new path in peace negotiations.

Trump also faces a difficult decision because he can no longer postpone new penalties for Russia for its unwillingness to end the war, the journalist believes. 

“The massive sanctions” that French President Emmanuel Macron has warned about are the only coherent response available to the White House. But early signs from Trump in Qatar suggest he may be holding back from calling the quest for peace a failure. This is probably the most important decision he will make on this conflict,” the correspondent concludes.

(c)UNIAN 2025