The Ukrainian leader's climb-down on security guarantees may be because the US is the only place he can turn to, writes BBC Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse.
I really feel for Zelenskyy, it’s such a terrible position to be in.
On the one hand, it must be galling to have to play nice with Trump. You know his word is worthless and he’s going to betray Ukraine the first chance he gets, which will probably cost a lot of Ukrainian lives.
On the other hand, if you hard-ball Trump and tell him to fuck off, the war continues and Ukraine probably loses, which also costs a lot of Ukrainian lives.
I really don’t see any way this doesn’t end badly, unless Europe can somehow step up and get Russia to back down. I don’t really see that happening though. I think Ukraine’s fate was sealed when Trump won the election TBH.
Yeah, but how much autonomy did he really have to do otherwise? The entire western world was pressuring him to continue the war, not to mention right wing elements in his own country.
The decision ultimately lay with him, and he chose to believe the west which proved to be fatal. However, it is also worth noting that there have been multiple offers from Russia to negotiate after that that the Ukrainians categorically refused. Each time the situation for Ukraine continued to get worse as a result.
Ukraine losing would be terrible for Trump. It makes him look weak and bad at foreign policy. Everyone knows that Russia invaded Ukraine unprovoked, and they’ll do it again
I really feel for Zelenskyy, it’s such a terrible position to be in.
On the one hand, it must be galling to have to play nice with Trump. You know his word is worthless and he’s going to betray Ukraine the first chance he gets, which will probably cost a lot of Ukrainian lives.
On the other hand, if you hard-ball Trump and tell him to fuck off, the war continues and Ukraine probably loses, which also costs a lot of Ukrainian lives.
I really don’t see any way this doesn’t end badly, unless Europe can somehow step up and get Russia to back down. I don’t really see that happening though. I think Ukraine’s fate was sealed when Trump won the election TBH.
I do not feel bad for Zelensky because this is the position he put himself in by aborting negotiations two weeks into the war.
Yeah, but how much autonomy did he really have to do otherwise? The entire western world was pressuring him to continue the war, not to mention right wing elements in his own country.
The decision ultimately lay with him, and he chose to believe the west which proved to be fatal. However, it is also worth noting that there have been multiple offers from Russia to negotiate after that that the Ukrainians categorically refused. Each time the situation for Ukraine continued to get worse as a result.
Ukraine losing would be terrible for Trump. It makes him look weak and bad at foreign policy. Everyone knows that Russia invaded Ukraine unprovoked, and they’ll do it again
Unprovoked? What happened in Donbas or Crimea?
Did Hamas attack isntreal unprovoked too?