Monday turned out to be a great day for Putin and a fateful one for Kiev and Europe in general. Another day marked by the anti-European, anti-Ukrainian, and pro-Russian rhetoric of the President of the United States,Donald Trump, and his government. Washington woke up concerned about the news from the WSJ that Vladimir Putin has invited Trump and Xi Jinping to a trilateral summit next month to resolve the war that started in 2022 and better distribute global influence areas. But by lunchtime, all doubts had dissipated.
"I would meet and do anything I can to end the war," he told reporters as he left the White House on his way to Kansas for a campaign rally. "But not so much for Ukraine, because Russia, frankly, has been good regarding Ukraine," he added about the aggressor, just hours after a Russian drone attack in broad daylight in a park killed six people, including two children. The night before, Russia attacked Kiev with more than a dozen ballistic missiles and targeted nearly 30 critical energy facilities.
In the same appearance, the president also suggested that Zelensky should delegate peace talks to someone else, clearly opening the door to what will likely soon materialize, a different candidacy supported by the US. "Perhaps it's time for Zelensky to get someone else to negotiate," he said. "They have lost a million people, their male population. If he had listened to me, and remember the meeting in the Oval Office, this would have been resolved long ago," he insisted, blaming the victim again. "We have given a lot to Ukraine, and they have given us nothing."
The messages did not stop there. Vice President JD Vance, the most aggressive towards Volodymyr Zelensky that day at the White House, also lashed out at Ukraine for attacking Russian refineries. "I don't think Ukraine should be in NATO (...) Not a word about the dozens of daily attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure to freeze the country in winter. The US government is only concerned about Russian diesel because they believe Ukrainian defenses will raise the global price. Refusing to say that Ukrainians are allies ("Well, they are partners in some things, but we also have different interests"), just as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent avoided in another interview.
To close the circle, hours later in Kansas, Trump resumed his attacks and disdain, but this time towards Europeans and NATO. In a series of confusing statements, mixing riots in France, immigration, and refusal to participate in the war in Iran. "I have to say that we stand with Europe, despite its mistakes and weaknesses. Let's hope what is happening there is temporary, but I saw it coming, I saw it 10 years ago. If they don't find their way, we will have to leave, have to leave. It's very serious. When we asked for help in Iran, help we didn't need, but I wanted to see what they would do and test them because we spend a lot of money on NATO and those things, they said no, something we won't forget after spending hundreds of billions protecting them. And they said no thanks (...) If they don't find their way soon, we will have no choice but to leave. Leave. We will have no choice," he warned. Nothing he hasn't said before, or that is not even in the country's national security strategies. But it adds to this month's new pro-Russian turn.
Trump links immigration to violence in France
The president also stated that immigration is the cause of the protests and violence shaking France since Saturday, and insisted that that country, like all of Europe, should "close its borders." "What is happening in France is related to immigration, not schools or anything else. It's immigration," declared the US president to the press before a campaign event, as he has been emphasizing since Sunday.
Trump said he had told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, several years ago: "You are making a big mistake in France. You are letting everyone in. (...) Soon Paris will be a Muslim city." "If Europe does not close its borders and expel criminals, like those protesting, Europe is finished," insisted the US president. "They will have no chance of survival," he warned.