Trump is confident that Ukraine will have to accept a peace deal on Russia’s terms – Politico

U.S. President Donald Trump believes that, in order to end the war, Ukraine will have to accept a deal “largely on Russia’s terms.”

This was reported by Politico, citing a senior White House official.

According to the source, the U.S. president “still has no inclination to pressure Vladimir Putin and is convinced that he has more leverage over Ukraine and its European allies to force them to accept the terms of an agreement.”

“He has long believed that Russia holds the advantage in the war itself and that it should be pushed toward peace talks. Ukraine, on the other hand, is heavily dependent on the U.S. for weapons supplies and intelligence. Therefore, there are greater opportunities to apply pressure to make it agree to a deal,” the source said.

This was the meaning behind Trump’s post yesterday in which he wrote that “it is very difficult, if not impossible, to win a war without striking the aggressor country.” According to the administration representative, Trump “was simply trying to blame Ukraine’s lack of leverage in negotiations on Biden’s policy.”

At present, Trump and his national security team “continue to engage with Russian and Ukrainian officials to organize a Zelensky–Putin meeting,” but there is growing recognition that arranging such a meeting quickly is “a hard job.”

Separately, another media outlet reported today that Putin is allegedly considering as a concession his willingness to freeze the front line in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.