President Donald Trump has let Russian leader Vladimir Putin down, according to a new report.
Following U.S.-mediated peace talks in Abu Dhabi and with the war in Ukraine now defined by attrition, The Wall Street Journal reports that two of the Russian autocrat’s routes to victory have fallen flat.
The newspaper reported that Putin, 74, had four ways he thought he could win the war. European countries’ waning support for Ukraine is one option still on the table, as is devastating Ukraine’s infrastructure through a relentless aerial blitz.
Talks mediated by the U.S. took place in November.
Vyacheslav Prokofiev/via REUTERS
But two other options have largely failed. Hopes of breaking down Ukraine’s army have been dashed by Kyiv’s defiant resistance on the front line.
Meanwhile, Putin’s final route to victory was through President Trump’s administration forcing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to accept unfavorable terms. That would likely have resulted in Kyiv surrendering vast swaths of land to the Kremlin.
But that now looks unlikely, despite Trump’s promise to end the conflict on the first day of his presidency.
Russia has been bombarding Ukraine from the skies.
Zelensky has faced immense pressure—and at times hostility—from Trump and his administration to yield to Moscow, ranging from awkward encounters in the Oval Office to the 80-year-old demanding that Zelensky stop attacking Russian energy infrastructure.
But despite the president’s pally relationship with the dictator and harsh treatment of Zelensky, the Russian leader will likely be disappointed by the few tangible gains he has gotten out of Trump.
America has “precious little” that it can bring to the negotiating table, Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign-policy adviser, said in late October.
With Democratic majorities inbound to Congress in the new year, the chances of the administration easing sanctions on Russia have diminished.
“Putin is painfully aware of Trump’s limitations at the moment, which is why he will continue fighting until the situation in Ukraine changes or he sees some sort of shifts in Europe,” founder of Russia-focused consulting firm R.Politik, Tatiana Stanovaya, told the Journal.
Russia has previously said the U.S. has “precious little” to offer at the negotiating table.
Mikhail Metzel/via REUTERS
In the UAE, Russia made it clear that it was still committed to the goals it set when its tanks and helicopters first rolled across the border in 2022.
Putin remains under pressure in his own country. In his hometown of St. Petersburg, a Russian military colonel was killed on Thursday by a car bomb.
The frontline has become an attritional stalemate.
Ukrainian Armed Forces/via REUTERS
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s own drone blitz continues. Three sources told Reuters that Kyiv has hit nine of Russia’s 35 major refineries since late October. It is thought to have reduced Moscow’s oil-producing capacity by 30 percent.
Actual production is thought to have dropped from 5 million barrels to 2.2 million barrels per day.
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