Trump and Putin

By Brenda Estefan

Donald Trump surprised the world on Wednesday by announcing that, after a 90-minute call with Vladimir Putin, negotiations to end the war in Ukraine would begin "immediately". Shortly afterwards, on his social network Truth Social, Trump referred to the dialogue with the Russian leader in friendly terms, in stark contrast to the coldness with which he described his subsequent conversation with Volodimir Zelenski. This is not the first time Trump has shown affinity with the Russian president; after all, both share a vision of a world ruled by the law of the strongest, to the detriment of a rules-based international system. But now, with the conflict in Ukraine at stake, the key question is: how far is the U.S. president willing to go in his rapprochement with Moscow?

The key is not only in Trump's words, but in what his Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, expressed on Wednesday in Brussels, during the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the forum in which the allies coordinate their military support to Kiev. Hegseth was categorical: "Ukraine's return to its pre-2014 borders is not a realistic goal." The message was unequivocal: Washington will not push for the return of Crimea to Ukrainian hands, nor will it back an offensive to regain the Russian-occupied territories. Moreover, Hegseth made clear the commitments Trump made to Putin in his call: Ukraine will not join NATO and, after the end of the war, there will be no U.S. or Transatlantic Alliance troops on Ukrainian soil.