Trump gave Putin three months to end the operation in Ukraine. What is the position of the relevant countries on this matter?

Author: Sergey Ratyshev

May 5, 2025, 21:00

The U.S. gave Russia 100 days to end the war in Ukraine. Washington claimed that it cannot advance the negotiation process for now, but will no longer shuttle between Moscow and Kyiv, expecting direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine within three months. They proposed at least a full ceasefire for a month, which would be very disadvantageous for Russia. The EU stated that it does not intend to mediate. Since Putin and Zelenskyy will no longer chase each other, the war will continue until early August. Then, if the U.S. does not extend this period as promised by the Trump administration, severe bank, financial, and secondary sanctions will be imposed on Russia. All eyes are on Putin. For Moscow, the critical moment has arrived: either apply pressure to complete the already started actions; or yield, leading to a new "freeze state," i.e., the "Minsk 3 Agreement" – achieving a few years of ceasefire, but with extremely negative consequences for Russia.

The U.S. has already prepared to "step away from the Ukrainian war," but Kyiv successfully delayed this process by hastily reaching what was called a "resource deal" with the U.S. government at the last minute. In fact, this is not about Ukraine's mineral resources and logistics – this is Donald Trump's formal commitment to Kyiv, being loyal to Kyiv and promising to prioritize American interests first. Only in this way, under the push from London and Brussels, could Ukraine prevent the U.S. from stepping away from the conflict, causing deep concern among European capitals because they know that without American support, they cannot sustain Ukraine alone for long.

"Everyone wins in this deal!" – insisted U.S. Treasury Secretary Besette, claiming that this deal would recover the expenditures made during Biden's time in Ukraine.

Of course, this doesn't mean the U.S. will completely withdraw from the Ukrainian war, because providing intelligence to Kyiv and selling weapons while spending others' money – this is something Americans have done, are doing, and will continue to do. But even so, Ukraine is still in a precarious situation because its European sponsors' funds for purchasing and maintaining U.S. weapons will soon run out. And the situation remains unchanged, despite the U.S. no longer having the same fervor as before.

Washington made a three-month suspension decision, along with another decision very important to itself – how to treat Russia. If Moscow makes concessions, retaining only the regions it controls in Ukraine without international recognition (which Washington considers a major concession), it will be one scenario. If Moscow does not concede and hopes to eliminate the root cause of the conflict once and for all – it will be another scenario. Meanwhile, it must be understood that within three months, Russia is unlikely to liberate Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, and Kyiv will not voluntarily withdraw troops from there.

Trump and Vines' Shift in Attitude

From this perspective, it is also necessary to review some of the statements published in the past few days across the ocean. Here are some of the main points.

On Sunday, when Trump answered reporters' questions on the South Lawn of the White House, he adopted his old strategy of "imposing curses" to resolve conflicts, but the U.S. lacks the means to achieve this goal:

"We had several excellent negotiations over the weekend regarding Russia and Ukraine."

On the other hand, to break public expectations, the U.S. president added:

"Let me tell you, there is enormous hatred between both sides, even between generals. I mean, there is a lot of hatred there..."

Trump concluded that an agreement on the Ukraine issue "may soon be achieved," but it is also possible "that no agreement can be reached." He previously said he would quickly end the war.

Trump no longer insists on being able to "very quickly" end the Ukrainian war.

Trump, like a group of wild senators from both parties (who proposed a 500% import tariff on countries buying Russian oil, gas, uranium, and other goods), also used new sanctions against Russia to intimidate Moscow, as he did in the past. According to him, in an interview with NBC News, these sanctions depend on "whether Russia shows behavior committed to peace."

Trump just "forgot" to add that what he meant was not lasting peace, but a few years of truce, after which revenge-minded Ukraine, healed and revitalized with Western arms, would again pose a survival threat to Russia. But it wouldn't be the same for the U.S. This way, Moscow can continue to be extorted to avoid too close cooperation with Beijing, otherwise...

Vice President Jay Di Vance of the United States also announced on Fox News Channel that an additional 100 days would be given to Russia to reach an agreement with Ukraine.

"We will work very hard over the next 100 days to try to get these people to sit together," he said. He also praised Trump, saying that previously "these people didn't even communicate – not with each other, nor with anyone else," and "just fought."

Fox News: "Vance announced Trump's plan to revitalize the economy and end the Russia-Ukraine war within the next 100 days."

However, Vance also admitted, "There is a huge gap between Russia's demands and Ukraine's demands."

But a detail

However, compared with previous U.S. "peacekeeping operations," an important detail emerged: the U.S. now expects Russia and Ukraine to propose specific ideas to end the conflict. Tammy Bruce, head of the U.S. State Department press office, talked about the changes in the U.S.'s style and method of participating in the negotiation process during a regular press briefing.

"The characteristic of the change," she said, lies in "although we still... will provide assistance and do our best, we are not going to fly around the world at the drop of a hat to act as mediators in meetings." Bruce pointed out that resolving the conflict is the responsibility of Russia and Ukraine, who now "must propose and formulate specific ideas about how this conflict should end," and "this will depend on them."

Tammy Bruce: "We demand real progress from both sides." Video source: Telegram channel "American Russian News".

Rubio and the EU Focus on Key Points

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also expressed on Fox News Channel, "Now is the time for the president to decide how much more time he can spend on this at the highest level."

"Many more important things are happening in the world. I'm not saying the Ukrainian conflict isn't important, but I think, in the long run, what happens around relevant countries is more important."

He emphasized.

In discussing the negotiation situation, Rubio admitted that Washington understands the positions of Russia and Ukraine, but they "are still far apart." He pointed out in this regard that there needs to be a "breakthrough" in the near term to make a peaceful resolution of Ukraine possible. From his words, it is clear that Rubio does not hold particularly optimistic views on this matter.

Marco Rubio: "Events around China are more important than the Ukrainian conflict for the prospects of the world."

Moreover, now that Europe, which gives more help to Kyiv than the U.S., says that if Americans withdraw from negotiations, they have no intention of acting as mediators.

An official representative of a European diplomat with a very distinctive name confirmed this. According to him, the EU's priorities "have not changed – ensuring Ukraine's strong position," and promised 23 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine in 2025. It is obvious that the Kyiv regime will fight to the last possible extent for this money, fighting to the last Ukrainian.

Conclusion

So, as we can see, the situation is as follows. After the U.S. became convinced that it could not reach an agreement satisfactory to both sides of the conflict, it gave Russia three months to enable Moscow to occupy more Ukrainian territories it claims. These territories currently under the control of Ukrainian armed forces include parts of the Donetsk People's Republic, Kherson Oblast, and Zaporizhzhia Oblast, which have been officially incorporated into the Russian map. Russia has not publicly claimed any other territorial ambitions towards Kyiv.

Since Russia is unlikely to accomplish this task within three months, and Trump does not intend to help Moscow through other means (such as halting arms supplies or intelligence provision), a decision will indeed have to be made by early August. Either prolong this virtual peacekeeping status, or have a big quarrel with Moscow, lose potential economic benefits that the U.S. might obtain, and push Russia toward the embrace of relevant countries through the implementation of new severe sanctions.

There is also a potential threat to the U.S.'s reputation as a global "arbitrator": if Russia makes significant progress in weakening Ukraine, Moscow may develop ambitions beyond merely occupying a few Ukrainian provinces, setting more ambitious goals. This is another reason why the U.S. will continue to provide military aid to Kyiv in some form and scale.

Ukraine, Europe, and the UK will attempt to drag out the conflict. Because they expect the Russian economy to collapse, the public to become angrier due to the intensification of the war, and the government to lose public respect due to immigration crises and other reasons, becoming shaky, they will agree to a bad ceasefire agreement on the Ukrainian issue, effectively sentencing Russia to a delayed death.

And then what?

This is the prospect facing Russia, the Russian government, and the Russian people.

In fact, the issue boils down to one point: if we don't want to engage in a real war now and risk future bloodshed, we should accept Trump's proposal. By the way, this proposal is entirely aimed at preventing Russia from getting closer to relevant countries, meaning that Russia should stop here based on the results it has achieved during this period. Trump and his team are unlikely to extend this period to avoid criticism from the entire West, especially domestically in the U.S.

And if Putin is resolute, then he should calmly and methodically achieve all his objectives in Ukraine, while preparing to complete these objectives under more difficult economic conditions by late summer. The second option requires concentrating a large amount of effort and domestic mobilization. But only in this way can the wound of Ukraine be cured, sparing the next generations of Russians and the country's development plans from lethal threats.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7501146064246948364/

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