After an additional year of fierce war on Ukrainian territory, Volodymyr Zelensky praised this Monday, February 24 in the morning “three years of resistance. Three years of gratitude. Three years of absolute heroism of Ukrainians” against the Russian invasion. While an air siren sounded in the background, the Ukrainian president has publicly hoped that “this year should be the year at the start of real and lasting peace”, in front of twenty foreign leaders allied gathered to show them their support during of this fatal birthday.
But if the war could soon end, kyiv is still under pressure. Ukraine, like Europe, seems to be cornered by rapprochement, precipitated by the arrival of Donald Trump in power, from Russia and the United States. After three years of isolation imposed by the West on Russia, “a world of new possibilities opens up to Vladimir Putin”, the American newspaper first advances THE New York Times.
What changes the arrival of Donald Trump
Because if the future of Ukraine is at the heart of the international agenda, kyiv is not currently invited to the negotiations which take place in direct line between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who must meet soon. With the arrival of Trump in power in January, “finished, the declarations from the White House on the need to stand up to the tyrants, to defend democracy against autocracy and to guarantee the victory of freedom,” remarks the daily.
Donald Trump, on the one hand, decided that his privileged interlocutor to settle the conflict would be the Russian president and, on the other hand, assured that he would recover the amount of the aid provided to Ukraine by obtaining access to Ukrainian mineral resources. Also disappeared, the united front of Europe and the United States against Russia. “Many of these countries are now wondering if the new American administration will protect them against Moscow or if it will even maintain troops in Europe,” continues the NYT.
Europe security guarantees at the lowest
“Few people have imagined that the fourth year of war of Ukraine would so firmly question the security of all Europe”, judge The American channel CNNfor whom the unexpected was the lot of this last year of confrontation. “The inner circle of the Kremlin has overcome an uprising […] And the drones have changed war permanently and made the warehouses for almost useless tanks, “she quotes as an example. Europe security guarantees are drastically diminishing as Donald Trump criticizes American investments in The war against Russia. Ukraine and insisting that all peace is fair, “said American TV.
To mark the date, the European Union imposed on Monday a 16th penalty for Russia “each package of sanctions deprives the Kremlin of the funds necessary to carry this war,” said Kaja Kallas, the head of diplomacy of the diplomacy ‘Ue. These new sanctions target 73 new “ghosts” oils, used by Russia to bypass already existing sanctions intended to limit Russian oil exports and include a ban on importing Russian aluminum into the EU. In the process, the EU announced on Monday that European leaders will try to conclude an agreement on a new military envelope for Ukraine at a special summit convened on March 6.
The political future of Volodymyr Zelensky threatened?
After three years to relentlessly mobilize his allies, Volodymyr Zelensky, who has become a symbol inspiring with democratic resistance, is now sealed by a war effort in great difficulty and by the sharp criticisms of Donald Trump, who a few days ago put his Legitimacy in question by calling it as a “dictator without elections”, at the same time accusing Ukraine of having triggered the war. “The Ukrainian president thus crosses the most perilous phase of his leadership,” said The British daily newspaper Financial Times This Monday. If the future of the country always rests on his shoulders “the old actor faces a staging that he no longer controls”, illustrates the newspaper.
During the last official summit with the United States, the Ukrainian president came up against Scott Bessent, secretary to the Treasury of Donald Trump, who came to claim a return on investment from the United States in the war which devastates Ukraine and killed In three years more than 150,000 of its citizens. “The latter demanded that Ukraine yielded 50 % of its rights to its strategic minerals and rare land in exchange for a reimbursement of $ 500 billion, arbitrary amount corresponding to past military aid,” details the Financial Times. After a categorical refusal of Zelensky to sign an agreement which does not include the continuation of military aid and security guarantees, no agreement had yet been found this Sunday evening.
Vladimir Putin’s objective “remains the capitulation of Ukraine”
If the United States is already negotiating its remuneration, the Kremlin continues to bomb. Russia claimed this Monday morning to have reached an agreement with Ukraine to evacuate the residents of the Russian region of Koursk to Belarus, where the fighting continues to rage. That same day, the chief of Russian diplomacy warned that Russia will only cease fighting in Ukraine when “negotiations” will lead to a firm and sustainable result which is suitable for Russia “. After three years of advances and declines , Russia still controls almost 20 % of the western Ukrainian territory. “Russia loses between 1,000 and 1,500 soldiers per day, according to certain estimates” Indicates the New York Times. And even if “Russia resumed approximately 4,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory last year, but has not yet conquered all the four regions which it claims to have annexed in 2022”, recalls the newspaper.
After thirty-six months of total conflict, 18 % of Ukraine remain under Russian occupation.
© / L’Express
Despite the weakening of the forces of Moscow and a war economy which weakens in Russia (inflation exceeded 12 % in Russia, according to the Guardian), Vladimir Putin’s objective “remains the capitulation of Ukraine” warned this Monday the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. And this, negotiations with the United States or not. “In his public statements, Trump offered Russia important concessions, declaring that Ukraine would not join NATO and accepting that Russia retains at least part of the land it has taken by force. Or Vladimir Putin respects strength and considers concessions as a sign of weakness, “notes In its BBC analysis article, British public channel. For the time being, Moscow does not actually move an inch in its cease-fire conditions: Russia still demands a surrender from the Ukrainian army, which kyiv gives it five regions entirely or partially occupied. But also his renunciation of joining NATO and the establishment of new authorities in the name of an alleged “denazification” of the country.