On February 12, 2025 will certainly remain one of the significant dates of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. As the day Donald Trump announced the “immediate” start of peace negotiations in Ukraine with Russia, without even consulting one of the main interested parties, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, nor his NATO allies or NATO allies of the European Union. A statement, however, warmly welcomed by Vladimir Putin, who hastened to invite his American counterpart to Moscow.
However, since Donald Trump’s return to the White House on January 20, some form of optimism seemed to begin to win the European capitals as for the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine, which the American president had promised to settle ” In twenty-four hours “during his campaign. This temporality had increased to “a hundred days” since then, and the commercial threats that Donald Trump had towards Vladimir Putin could suggest that the American president was going to force the standoff against his Russian counterpart. But it was before the “reminder to reality” on Wednesday, says Politico. “Donald Trump’s new public position with regard to Vladimir Putin seems to be all that the supporters of Ukraine feared: a brutal flip-flop of American foreign policy which is actually opposite the approach adopted By President Joe Biden, “said the American media. A vision shared by The Economistwhich underlines the “sudden change of CAP” by Donald Trump when “relatives of his administration had whispered that the American president had understood that an agreement would require much stronger pressure on Vladimir Putin”.
The announcement of the opening of these peace negotiations by the American president could however be good news. Analyzing the words of Donald Trump but also of the new Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, the editorialist of Washington Post David Ignatius says that a “attentive exam” of their statements reveals “encouraging signs that show that the Trump team is determined to support what Pete Hegseth called ‘a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine'”. The American editorialist continues by emphasizing that the assessment of Donald Trump “will be measured by obtaining a just peace agreement which does not benefit the aggressor. The process is only just beginning but, until Now Donald Trump does not seem to have folded in front of the Kremlin, “he concludes.
“Ukraine is screwed up. And Europe too”
Very few think of it like him this Thursday, January 13. Across the Atlantic as in Europe, the time is hardly optimistic about the chances of kyiv to get out of these negotiations with an agreement that it is no longer really question that it is favorable to him, but which would guarantee Just its territorial and political integrity in the short and medium term. “If we did not know Trump and Putin, the opening of peace negotiations in Ukraine would be good news. But knowing them, the announcement was more a shock than a relief,” writes the Spanish daily El Mundopresage that “this negotiation, to which kyiv and Zelensky were invited as objects and not as subjects, foreshadows a great looting of Ukraine”.
To testify to the state of mind in Brussels, the German daily Die Süddeutsche Zeitung For his part, a choice of telling the catastrophe scenario drawn up by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of a European country geographically close to Russia after the arrival of Donald Trump in power … which seems to be looming for the moment. “First step: Trump, still looking for an agreement, gets along with Putin on a ceasefire in Ukraine, without European countries or the government of kyiv having much to say. Step: Putin accepts and obtains in exchange for Trump concessions, mainly to the detriment of Europe and Ukraine. Take care of its implementation and protection – alone in the face of an overwhelming and aggressive Russia.
It is not only in Brussels that the mood is gloomy: in kyiv too, Donald Trump’s project makes teeth cringe. Volodymyr Zelensky tries not to let go and make his voice heard with Donald Trump, ensuring this Wednesday that he had recalled him “the position of Ukraine, namely that this war ends with a just peace “. But “the mood among the Ukrainian officials darkened strongly,” reports The Economist. “I think everything will be decided without Ukraine,” fears one of them, while another assures that “Ukraine is fucked up. And Europe too, moreover”.
“We have not yet seen the ‘Force’ part”
What intrigues the most on the side of American and European media, but also EU political leaders, is the way of proceeding from Donald Trump and his administration in these beginnings of negotiations. By already giving Russia right to a certain number of its claims – no membership of NATO for Ukraine, the quasi -cancer of its territorial gains on Ukrainian soil, and the assurance that American soldiers will in no way participate in compliance with a possible peace agreement -, the Trump method to start its negotiations is far from convincing. “Donald Trump always speaks of ‘Peace by force’, and this is precisely the right approach with the Russians. But here, we have not yet seen the ‘Force’ part”, tances a European official with the Wall Street Journal.
“The first reaction to Brussels this Wednesday was stupor. Not necessarily faced with what Pete Hegseth presented […]. What shocked the Europeans was the fact that Trump and his administration announced all these concessions to Russia without any pressure, even before a single cycle of serious negotiations took place with Russia, “said THE Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Why are they already voluntarily put all this on the table? It’s completely crazy,” said a senior EU official with the German newspaper.
Between Europe and the United States, a definitively broken link?
From this episode, with a still uncertain consequences, however, seems to stand a long feared observation, but this time very concrete: Europe and the United States are no longer inalienable allies. “The mantra of Europeans according to which the fate of Ukraine must not be negotiated without Ukraine – and not without the Europeans – has been swept away by Trump,” continues the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
“The American century of Europe is over. Relations between the United States and Europe will never be the same after Trump’s call to Putin,” prophesies for its part Cnn. Because in the eyes of the American media, Donald Trump’s statements do not only concern the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but are indicative of a world vision where Europe would not have its place among the great. “In the current state of things, Trump does not seem to oppose what Russia retains the loot of his uninsured invasion. It is not surprising, because like Russia, America now has a president who Think that the great powers are entitled to expansionism in their regional influence areas.
The “America First” doctrine was known to all: a return to American protectionism and isolationism. But this way of Donald Trump to impose himself as the one who managed to put an end to arms and lead peace, in the east of Europe as in the Middle East, also testifies to the personal approach of the American president, estimates THE Wall Street Journal. “For Trump, Gaza and Ukraine look alike. Thousands of people die unnecessarily. Cities are in ruins. Ancestral hatreds feed endless fights. The solutions he offers also have a lot in common. They arise from his Belief in his power of persuasion, his assumed desire to be perceived as a peaceful craftsman of historical importance, and his penchant to impose solutions on weaker countries, including his allies “. The fact remains that neither in Gaza nor in Ukraine, the main interested parties seem to approve the project of the American president for the moment.