"The National Security Strategy would suggest [Trump's] not about to come to the primary defense of Ukraine, that he thinks this is clearly Europe's role and Ukraine's role, and there needs to be compromise," Council President and CEO Leslie Vinjamuri says.
"Russia is not prepared to make real concessions, and the middle ground that we really need between Ukraine and Russia right now seems further away than ever," Distinguished Nonresident Fellow Julianne Smith says.
From the exclusion of Europe in outlining a Ukraine peace plan, a continued push against Venezuela, and his embrace of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Trump showed this week that he will disrupt the status quo to deliver on his agenda.
Paul Poast unpacks President Donald Trump's pivot on the conflict after meeting with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
After meeting with Zelenskyy during the UN General Assembly, "Trump has moved so dramatically from being what felt, for a very long time, like he was in Vladimir Putin's corner to being very much in Ukraine's corner," Leslie Vinjamuri says.
Trump’s recent summits failed to achieve a breakthrough, but the details of the outcomes contain clues as to where the talks are headed, Paul Poast writes.
