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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Trump and Putin both blame Europe as Ukraine peace effort languishes
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated:
9:36 AM EDT, Fri September 5, 2025
Source: CNN
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are on the same page again.
The US and Russian presidents are now both singling out Europe as
stasis envelops efforts to end the Ukraine war three weeks after their
high-profile but low-impact summit in Alaska.
Trump called on Europe to do more in on Thursday — even though the
only incremental diplomatic activity to do with the war is coming from
US transatlantic allies as they try to work out after any peace deal.
The latest twist in the president’s erratic Ukraine diplomacy came a
day after he told reporters he planned to speak with Putin again soon
so he could work out “what we’re going to be doing.” He refused
to say whether he’d sign off on severe direct sanctions on Russia if
Putin continued to slow his peace initiative after the Russian
president ignored , the latest of which expires on Friday. “Whatever
his decision is, we’ll either be happy about it, or unhappy. And if
we’re unhappy about it, you’ll see things happen,” Trump said in
the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Trump did speak to on Thursday, along with the other European leaders.
The Ukrainian president that the conversation covered economic pressure
on Russia and “depriving Russia’s war machine of money.”
But the message from the US side after the conversation faulted the
Europeans more than Russia.
Trump “emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that
is funding the war — as Russia received €1.1 billion in fuel sales
from the EU in one year,” after the call. “The president also
emphasized that European leaders must place economic pressure on China
for funding Russia’s war efforts,” the official said.
On one hand, Trump has a point. Given the grave security threat that
European nations perceive from Russia, it’s odd that there would be
any European Union countries still at a time when the West has imposed
sanctions to try to debilitate Moscow’s economy over its illegal 2022
invasion of Ukraine.
Still, like many of Trump’s positions on the war, his pressure on
Europe contains illogical and even hypocritical elements. After all,
he’s demanding that Europe take on China over its Russian oil
purchases when he’s not prepared to sanction Beijing himself. The
United States is locked in after the president unleashed a trade war
with high tariffs despite rather unfavorable US cards. Trump seems
loath to do anything that will harm his chances of a deal.
But his stance on Europe mirrors his treatment of another erstwhile
friend, India, which is on its exports to the United States that Trump
justified by its continuing purchases of Russian oil. His move
shattered a three-decade-long bid by successive Democratic and
Republican presidents to keep India out of the orbit of fellow rising
Asian superpower China.
The cost of his strategy was underscored this week when at a summit of
strongman leaders. Modi, meanwhile, spent an hour in Putin’s
limousine, in an echo of the Russian leader’s ride in Trump’s Beast
armored car during their summit in Alaska three weeks ago.
In any case, hiking pressure on Europe to ease off its purchases of
Putin’s oil is unlikely to be decisive. The continent has been taking
steps to decrease its dependence on Russian energy as war has raged in
Ukraine. Russia was once the largest supplier of petroleum to the EU.
But member states have since imposed a ban on maritime oil exports and
refined oil products. CNN’s that oil imports to Europe fell to $1.72
billion in the first quarter of 2025, down from $16.4 billion in the
equivalent period in 2021.
Russia seeks to split the US and Europe
Russia, meanwhile, is intensifying its classic strategy of trying to as
it seeks to create room for its forces to press for more gains on the
frontlines in eastern Ukraine.
During his visit to China, Putin met Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico
and accused Europeans of whipping up “hysteria” over Moscow
allegedly planning to attack Europe. “Any sane person is perfectly
aware that Russia has never had, does not have, and will never have any
desire to attack anyone,” said a Russian president whose forces
entered Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.
In Alaska, Putin warned — as he stood side-by-side with a US
president who has frequently criticized America’s allies — that
Europe should not “throw a wrench in the works” of his diplomacy
with Trump.
And earlier this week, the European Commission said a plane carrying
its top leader Ursula Von der Leyen was while landing in Bulgaria on
Sunday and that Russia was suspected. Moscow blasted the claim as
“fake” and a symptom of European “paranoia.”
In another swipe at Europe this week, Russian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Russia found the idea
of any deployment of foreign troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace
deal “unacceptable.” It was Moscow’s latest effort to scupper a
European push for a reassurance force for Ukraine after the war.
There is also no sign of the meeting between Putin and Zelensky that
White House officials confidently predicted would take place as soon as
two weeks ago. Putin did offer to hold talks in Moscow. But since it
would be impossible for Zelensky to feel secure in such a venue, this
came across as yet another example of obstruction.
Trump had once suggested he’d be involved as a third party in such
talks, but he’s reverted to the Russian position that a one-on-one
should happen first. Ukraine’s allies worry that Putin would
orchestrate a confrontation in a bilateral meeting that he could then
use to argue to Trump that Zelensky had sabotaged the process.
Some movement on security guarantees — but Russia would be a
roadblock
There was one glimmer of progress on Thursday — even if it is
conditional on the long-shot success of a Trump peace initiative that
stalled before it really got going.
Following the call between Trump, Zelensky and members of the
“Coalition of the Willing” Ukrainian allies, French President
Emmanuel Macron said that 26 countries had pledged contributions to a
potential peacekeeping force if a ceasefire deal is finalized.
Macron said that, alongside strengthening Ukraine’s armed forces and
deploying European troops to Ukraine, the third component of
Ukraine’s security guarantees ought to be an “American safety
net.” The US has told allies it is open to a limited role in
providing security guarantees to Ukraine if a peace deal is reached
with Russia.
At the end of another week of very little movement toward peace in
Ukraine, it’s no wonder, as , that Trump is getting frustrated.
But there are few signs that he’s got a big idea to break the logjam.
The headline of this story has been updated.
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