Ukraine’s war is at a point where diplomacy is just as much a fighter as the battlefield, and the globe holds its breath as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy tread a thin line that will lead them to peace—or wartime ceasefire for a little while. When Trump returned as a political candidate, he promised to end the war within 24 hours with his chemistry with Putin.
But the war’s bloody face turned it harder than ever before. Trump recently moved from admiration of what he calls Putin’s affection for negotiation to anger at Russia’s ongoing shelling of Ukrainian cities. Following a string of lethal bombings, he has threatened second-round retaliation as well as collective tariffs and sanctions on countries importing Russian oil, as a concession to pressure Moscow into a ceasefire.
Behind-the-scenes pressure through diplomatic channels has been in progress around the clock, with Trump’s negotiating team facilitating high-level negotiations with Russia that left Ukraine in the dark at times. Saudi negotiations were to see American and Russian envoys reaching out for mutualism in consultation approaches in order to resolve irritants of a bilateral nature, as well as tread lines of de-escalation.
European allies and Ukraine were left with the impression that they were being left behind, yet Trump’s personal diplomacy can bring both sides into negotiations, U.S. officials stated. Arguably, the most emotional issue is that of land concessions. Trump floated a territorial tradeoff in any future peace deal, which was rejected by Zelenskyy outright, saying that Ukraine would never purchase aggression and would not sell its land.
Behind negotiation backroom doors are some officials who secretly admit military difficulties in the reclamation of occupied land, but technically, the Ukrainian stance is still unshakable: whatever the proposal, it has to uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty and entail its full involvement.
Military and economic pressure are still at the center of policy overall. Sanctions and tariffs suffocate Russia’s economy, but the Kremlin resists after years of previous sanctions. Inflation and rising food and energy prices have punished ordinary Russians, with a real effect as much as the entire economy appears to be resilient.
America also changed the strategy of military assistance, delivering weapons through NATO allies so that Ukraine may be well-equipped and amply supplied without directly engaging Americans. The European powers have also increased their contribution, purchasing billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment to equip Kyiv, and are not in the mood to be left on the sidelines as Russian forces move. European politicians are increasingly concerned with being left at the bargaining table.
British and French demanded emergency meetings, whereas British leaders had talked of sending troops in, attempting to help establish peace. Energy is especially a requirement, with winter looming and Russian forces pounding Ukrainian targets, and pressures usually fall on the policy and approach of individuals. Rising energy costs and warfare fatigue are forcing the European governments to seek ways of protecting citizens from having to pay for the war without being accused of caving in on defending Ukraine. Human losses are disastrous.
Death toll estimates range from more than 100,000 Russian troops and at least 43,000 Ukrainian troops, but analysts estimate that the figures must be higher. Civilians are bombarded day and night, in the dark, and made to be refugees, and their agony continues to drive politics.
There is fear of the potential concessions of the tamed to the silent acceptances in Kyiv and across Ukraine, but almost everyone in a nearly monolithic majority simply wants the killing to stop. With an eye on the next probable Trump-Putin summit, the stakes are as high as they come.
Those kinds of decisions in such consequential negotiations have the potential to remake not just the near-future destiny of Ukraine but the larger fight for supremacy throughout Europe and worldwide. Like with each diplomatic maneuver, the globe waits with bated breath for an outcome worthy of the competing interests of justice, sovereignty, and higher principles to stop the man-made killings that have defined this war.
