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Trump shouted and lectured. After his phone call with Putin, Zelensky was supposed to change strategy

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Slovakia

Monday, October 20


Alternative Takes

Putin's Territorial Demands and Conditions

Budapest Meeting and European Reactions

Zelensky's Response and Resistance


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Trump proposes to carve up Donbas.

Ukrajinský prezident Volodymyr Zelenskyj počas rokovania s americkým prezidentom Donaldom Trumpom.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with US President Donald Trump. (Source: SITA/AP)

WASHINGTON, BRATISLAVA. The stance of US President Donald Trump has changed again. On Friday, he surprisingly called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russia's conditions.

Otherwise, according to him, there is a risk that Russian President Vladimir Putin will destroy Ukraine.

Trump's comments came during another tense meeting with the Ukrainian president at the White House, which was accompanied by shouting, sources told The Financial Times, according to which the Ukrainian delegation left the Oval Office once again frustrated.

Trump reportedly threw a map of the front line off the table, saying he was “tired of looking at the red line, which he doesn’t know where it is because he’s never been there,” and, amid relentless insults, insisted that Zelenskyy give up all of Donbas.

This is another sudden U-turn by the US president, who only a month ago suggested that Ukraine could regain all of its territory and even"march into" Russia, comments the newspaper The Guardian.

But on Sunday, he publicly called for the division of Donbass, which he said was the best way to achieve peace."Let it be divided the way it is divided now," he said. Asked whether he had told Zelensky that Ukraine should hand over all of Donbass to Russia, he said no.

Losing the war

Friday's tense meeting reportedly recalled a heated White House meeting a few months ago when a Ukrainian delegation tried to broker a rare earths deal with the United States. Trump, along with Vice President J.D. Vance, criticized Zelensky for what he characterized as a lack of gratitude toward the United States.

The relationship between the pair has improved significantly since then, thanks primarily to the efforts of European leaders such as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who have long been vehemently supportive of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president's trip to the US was also driven by the desire to make a deal. Zelensky planned to secure supplies of American Tomahawk missiles to the Ukrainian military, with the help of which Kiev would be able to strike deep into Russian territory, including Moscow.

Zelensky hoped that the US president's frustration with Putin would help developments in Ukraine's favor.

Trump is irritated that negotiations with the Russian president, including a pompous summit in Alaska, have so far failed to yield any breakthrough in the war. For example, in August, Putin rejected an immediate ceasefire proposed by the Trump administration. Gradually, the American president began to criticize Russia more sharply.

But now Trump is again claiming that Putin has gained a significant amount of territory in the war, meaning he will definitely take “something” from Ukraine. Trump went on to say on Friday that Zelensky is losing the war, according to a European official who spoke to The Financial Times.

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