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“President Donald Trump told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday that the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there, though the extent of any assistance was not immediately clear. Trump made the pledge during an extraordinary summit at the White House, where he hosted Zelenskiy and a group of European allies following his meeting on Friday in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin.” Reuters
Here’s our coverage of the Trump-Putin summit. The Flip Side
The left urges additional support for Ukraine, such as sanctions and concrete security guarantees.
“As the world’s leaders were heading to Washington, Putin’s forces unleashed 182 infantry assaults, 152 massive glide bombs, more than 5,100 artillery rounds and 5,000 kamikaze drones on Ukraine’s defenses and 140 long-range drones and four Iskander ballistic missiles on Ukraine’s cities. The attacks claimed at least 10 civilian lives, including a small child…
“The Monday summit also revealed that Putin’s ostensible concession at the Alaska summit to agree to international security guarantees for Ukraine is a poisoned chalice. On the surface, it seemed like a breakthrough toward compromise. The White House summit participants jumped on it and put the guarantees at the center of discussions. And yet there has been no agreement, and the world has more questions than answers…
“How could the Ukrainian armed forces be strengthened to deter Russia? Who would pay? How could Russia be prevented from rebuilding its Black Sea Fleet and blocking Ukrainian grain exports?… Who would put boots on the ground in Ukraine?… The net outcome of the past week’s diplomatic huddles will be Putin buying time for his aggression as Washington abstains from sanctions hoping for peace.”
Mikhail Alexseev, Los Angeles Times
“Trump says [the security] guarantees will be strong, with ‘lots of protection’ for Ukraine. What form they take has yet to be worked out, but ultimately this is about deterrence, so their effectiveness will depend on trust in a mercurial White House. Can Ukraine trust Trump to follow through on any commitment to come to its aid? More importantly, can Putin?…
“Putin has to think that if he were to attack, there would be at least a significant risk of Ukraine’s Western allies entering the war directly. But why should he believe that, when Trump keeps saying this isn’t America’s war and has stopped paying for any US military sent to Kyiv? When he’s happy to blame Ukraine or the US for starting the war, but never Russia, which invaded a sovereign neighbor?”
Marc Champion, Bloomberg
“Ten days ago, Trump was threatening further sanctions on Russia. Will he now make good on those threats? If not, then we can forget about any progress. And will Trump continue supplying weapons to Ukraine? If not, it’s unrealistic to expect that Europe will be able to make up the entire gap…
“Trump, above all, is a showman. He likes good reviews and good visuals. He did not get them in Anchorage, where Putin cleaned his clock. For the most part, he did get them from Monday’s White House event, and Putin may end up paying the price in a revival of Western resolve…
“If Trump or someone in his administration can actually broker a cease-fire followed by a land-for-security bargain, that would be worth the long-desired Nobel.”
Robert Kuttner, American Prospect
The right is optimistic about the summit and praises Trump’s efforts to end the war.
The right is optimistic about the summit and praises Trump’s efforts to end the war.
“We have never seen so many pillars of the NATO alliance come to the White House at one time. Equally important, we have rarely seen them express such unity in the post-Cold War era. Europe’s leaders avoided any hint of disappointment or cleavages within the alliance. That’s good news for the Western Alliance and bad news for Putin. Why? Because he has consistently tried to drive a wedge between Washington and Europe…
“So, what’s the next step to try and end the war? Another meeting, this one with Putin, Zelensky and Trump. Trump hopes it can be held quickly, within two weeks, but Putin has never sat down with Zelensky and considers meeting him as an equally major concession… The follow-up question is what Trump will do if Putin refuses. The likely answer is to provide more arms to Ukraine, paid for by the Europeans, and begin imposing sanctions on buyers of Russian oil.”
Charles Lipson, Spectator World
Some argue, “Holding off on punishing Moscow isn’t getting President Donald Trump any closer to peace: Hitting Vladimir Putin with fresh secondary sanctions looks like the best, maybe only, way to get him to both sit down with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and get serious about doing a deal. Putin and Zelensky ‘have to have something of a relationship, otherwise we’re just wasting a lot of time,’ Trump told Fox News viewers Tuesday morning, yet it’s plainly Putin who’s refusing to meet…
“You used tariff threats to forge a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia, Mr. President. And you pressured Zelensky and the Europeans to get them behind your vision for a Russia-Ukraine peace. Now keeping up the momentum is key, and Putin is the last piece to get in place. Lower the sanctions boom to get him to the table.”
Editorial Board, New York Post
“Democrats’ obsession with opposing Trump is so blinding that they can’t help contradict themselves from one condemnation of Trump to the next. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) posted immediately following the summit [that] ‘so long as Trump refuses to support Ukraine militarily, there is no hope for meaningful peace talks. Even a third grader knows you need to negotiate from a position of strength, and Trump’s promise to abandon Ukraine — no matter how talks go — is diplomatic malpractice.’…
“This is an outright lie, of course… But that’s only the message coming out of one side of the Democratic mouth. On Monday evening’s edition of CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, liberal commentator Bakari Sellers railed against Trump’s apparent openness to putting U.S. troops in Ukraine to keep the peace…
“So which is it, exactly? Is Trump secretly a Putin operative, installed in the White House to help the Russian president expand his territory? Or is he following Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on a path to World War III? Because it can’t be both.”
Peter Laffin, Washington Examiner
