Trump Confident On Ceasefire After Putin Threatens Europe With War

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to end the Ukraine war, basing his view on a recent meeting between Putin and U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. Trump claimed that Putin wants to restore normalcy, including resuming trade with the United States, and insisted that Ukraine is satisfied with the proposed terms. He further asserted that the conflict would never have begun if he had been in office.

However, Putin’s own comments starkly contradict this narrative. The Russian leader warned Europe against triggering a direct confrontation, stressing that Moscow is fully prepared to retaliate immediately. He also accused European governments of undermining Trump’s peace plan by making unrealistic demands, allegedly to shift blame onto Russia if the negotiations collapse.

Putin defended Russia’s military actions in Ukraine as deliberate and controlled rather than a full-scale war, while hinting that an escalation with Europe could result in the disappearance of negotiation partners altogether. Meanwhile, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk dismissed the peace efforts as a façade, alleging that Putin is manipulating Trump to subordinate Ukraine, escape sanctions, stop asset seizures and create rifts between Washington and the EU. Yatsenyuk urged the United States to strengthen Ukraine’s leverage to extract real concessions from Putin instead of pressuring Kyiv, calling it absurd to prioritise Ukrainian compromises.