Trump-Zelensky Summit Marks Win for Russia and Loss for Ukraine's European Masters
19:33 GMT 18.08.2025 (Updated: 07:25 GMT 19.08.2025)
© AP Photo / Alex Brandon
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The Trump-Zelensky meeting in Washington suggest that the US is “engineering a managed withdrawal from Ukraine,” with the White House valuing ‘America First’ agenda more than Ukrainian leadership’s ambitions, geopolitics and security analyst Dr. Marco Marsili told Sputnik.
Commenting on the results of the summit, Dr. Marsili made the following observations:
Zelensky’s behavior betrayed his desperation. As Trump put an end to Biden’s blank check policy regarding the aid to Ukraine, Zelensky now has to beg for scraps as without the full US backing, “Ukraine’s military collapse is inevitable.”
By dismissing a demand for a ceasefire before negotiations, Trump sends a message to Zelensky: negotiate now or face annihilation at the hands of the Russian forces.
Ukraine’s impending collapse will allow Trump to claim that US weapon such as Patriot missile systems are invincible despite numerous documented instances of them being taken out by Russian missiles. Instead, the following narrative will be pushed: "We gave them perfect weapons; their corruption lost the war."
The protection alternatives offered by Trump to Ukraine instead of NATO membership are mere theatrics. Ukraine would become nothing but a non-aligned buffer state completely dependent on the US’ whims.
Thus, Dr. Marsili comes to these conclusions:
Having prioritized domestic politics, Trump views Ukraine as a liability
Russia is poised to achieve its goals: a cessation of NATO expansion and recognition of Russia’s new territories.
Europe is unable to replace the US support to Ukraine, and Germany and France “will inherit a crisis they cannot resolve.”
