Security expert analyzes fallout of Trump’s alignment with Putin after their summit

John Yang:

Good evening. I'm John Yang. Peace efforts in the war between Russia and Ukraine shift to the White House next week when President Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Their talks come as Mr. Trump has now aligned himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin, dropping his demand for a ceasefire and backing a comprehensive agreement to end the war instead.

Hours after meeting with Putin in Alaska, Mr. Trump announced his sudden reversal on Truth Social. It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war and not a mere ceasefire agreement.

Earlier, the president had told Fox News Sean Hannity that the responsibility is now on others.

Donald Trump, U.S. President:

Now it's really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit.

John Yang:

And now for analysis of all of this,Andrea Kendall-Taylor, she's a former senior intelligence officer. She's now a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security.

Andrea, in addition to sort of flip flopping or changing his position on the ceasefire, there are now reports that he's told European leaders that he now supports Russia's demand for territory for peace. Where does this leave the peace effort?

Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Center for a New American Security: Well, I think this was the big concern going into the Alaska meeting that President Trump would, in fact, come around to Putin's point of view and join on to his demands and then force that deal on Ukraine and the Europeans. And then if they reject a deal that's unjust and unfair to Ukraine, will turn around and reassign blame to Ukraine.

You know, I think we're perhaps even in a worse position than were going in because I'm exceptionally concerned that now, after months of suggesting he would ramp up pressure on Russia, that Trump is once again reversing course and is going to apply that pressure now on Ukraine.

John Yang:

After he spoke with President Trump early this morning, President Zelenskyy had a social media post that doesn't directly contradict the president, but he does say the fire must cease on both the battlefield and in the sky.

What does this do for this meeting on Monday? What are the stakes for this meeting on Monday now?

Andrea Kendall-Taylor:

Well, the stakes are really significant. And as that quote from President Zelenskyy underscores, the Russian and the Ukrainian sides are as far apart as they've ever been. And so now Zelenskyy really is in a perilous and precarious position. He has to walk a tightrope, essentially.

I think my hope is that he might take a page from the Russian negotiating playbook and come back to President Trump with a yes, but to try to demonstrate, yes, that he too, is interested in peace, but then lay out his conditions that would have to be met. That might help Zelenskyy buy a little bit more time for things to calm down and also to buy time for the Europeans, who I do think really need to prepare to step in to fill a gap if President Trump decides to withdraw support for Ukraine.

John Yang:

Speaking of those European leaders, they thought they had an agreement with the president to push for a ceasefire. They met with them on Wednesday. What can they now do?

Andrea Kendall-Taylor:

You'll see in the public statements that many of the leaders released that they don't want to directly contradict President Trump. They've dropped their language about asking for a ceasefire before discussions on territory or negotiations.

So they're trying to avoid that contradiction, but then are doubling down on some of the other conditions that everyone believes would lead to a more just and durable peace. So they're highlighting, for example, that there can be no limits on the size of Ukraine's military.

So I see their role now again as trying to keep Trump on side in part to buy time while they ramp up their own capabilities to help Ukraine, while also really working very hard to keep some boundaries and parameters on any future agreement.

John Yang:

Going into this summit, President Trump really raised the expectations for a ceasefire that talked about how it's really what he wanted to come out of the meeting with. And then the day after he says the cease fire is out the window. What do you think happened in that meeting?

Andrea Kendall-Taylor:

Well, I think, you know, first President Trump sat down with Putin and was able to hear from him Putin's version of the war, his version of what's happening on the battlefield. And he's sympathetic to Putin. He obviously has an inclination to want to agree with Putin and maintain that close personal relationship.

President Trump continues to have this vision of Russia as a great power, perhaps dating back to the 80s with the USSR and of course, Sergey Lavrov with the throwback with the Soviet Union sweatshirt, reminding Trump that Russia is in fact a great power.

So I suspect he went into that meeting with Putin and recognized yet again that Putin is not willing to back down on his demands. And so he now, I think, views Zelenskyy as the weaker party.

And I think one final point that is also worth highlighting is President Trump does not have a solid grasp of the facts and the issues at hand. President Putin, in contrast, knows these details in and out. He's a steely eyed, detail oriented dictator.

If they're in a discussion, in a negotiation, it's not a level playing field. I don't see how Trump can do a good deal when he doesn't have a solid grasp of the facts.

John Yang:

Andrea Kendall Taylor, the Center for a New American Security thank you very much.

Andrea Kendall-Taylor:

Thank you for having me.