As political theater took center stage in Turkey, the war went on in Ukraine. Kyiv has few options
Since U.S.-brokered talks began in March, Ukraine’s strategy has been to convince the Trump administration that Vladimir Putin is unreliable and that Kyiv is serious about peace.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has few options, analysts and officials say, but to draw U.S. President Donald Trump’s ire against Putin, while depending on Europe’s united and stalwart support.
In the latest round, Zelenskyy not only accepted Putin’s offer to hold direct talks in Turkey, after the U.S. endorsed the idea, but raised the stakes and challenged the Russian leader to a face-to-face. The gesture failed to move Putin and the Istanbul talks were demoted to a technical meeting Friday that failed to yield substantial results on ending the war.
The U.S. has expressed frustration with the stalled talks and threatened to withdraw if results aren’t achieved. On Friday, Trump told reporters after boarding Air Force One to return to Washington from Abu Dhabi that he may call Putin soon.
“He and I will meet, and I think we’ll solve it, or maybe not,” Trump said. “At least we’ll know. And if we don’t solve it, it’ll be very interesting.”
All along, Zelenskyy’s message, directed at the Trump administration, has been: The Russian leader cannot be trusted.
It’s a rhetorical game of pingpong in which both Kyiv and Moscow try to outmaneuver the other vis-à-vis the U.S. But the political theatrics are underscored by stark realities on the ground. In this war of attrition against Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s position is poised to grow weaker as time goes on, unless powerful sanctions are imposed against Moscow and the U.S. continues arms deliveries.
“He is in a difficult situation because behind him is a whole nation of people who are suffering,” said Oleksandr Merezkho, a lawmaker in Zelenskyy’s party. “We are playing (along), we are trying to do everything we can because we don’t want to lose the support of the U.S. We don’t want to be accused that it was our fault.”
Putin’s no-show did not result in a strong reaction from Trump, which frustrated Ukrainian officials.
“It looks surreal, weird when Ukraine is complying to everything required from us, and Putin ignores, rejects,” said Merezhko. “It looks very imbalanced, it looks unfair for Ukraine.”
Ukraine hopes for sanctions, while Russia stalls
Since March, Zelenskyy has made a point of showing Ukraine’s willingness to acquiesce to U.S. demands to avoid alienating Trump, his most powerful ally.
Kyiv hoped Russia’s unwillingness to do the same would, in time, provoke the U.S. to unleash powerful sanctions and cripple Moscow’s war machine — the most likely scenario in which Ukraine can hope to weaken Russia and negotiate an advantageous peace deal, analysts said.
Russia’s position has remained mostly consistent. The Kremlin kept repeating that it was ready for peace talks with Ukraine — while making demands that were politically untenable for Zelenskyy, and would require Ukraine to make territorial concessions, neutralize its army and vow never to join NATO.
