Erratic back and forth Trump praises Europe - and then suddenly becomes Putin's mouthpiece
At the summit in the White House, US President Donald Trump was contradictory. Sometimes he emphasized support for Ukraine, then again he showed understanding for Russian demands. The European guests reacted with irritation.
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- Donald Trump received Selensky and seven European leaders at the White House.
- The US President vacillated between support for Ukraine and closeness to Putin.
- Concrete security guarantees remained open, a breakthrough failed to materialize.
At the Ukraine summit in the White House, Volodymyr Selensky, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and other European leaders witnessed an erratic Donald Trump. Sometimes he presented himself as the leader of the free world, sometimes as a peacemaker with Nobel Prize ambitions - and at times even as a negotiator for Vladimir Putin. This was reported by Der Spiegel, citing circles close to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The European heads of state and government had hastily traveled to Washington after Trump had shown understanding for Russia's maximum demands at the meeting with Putin in Alaska. These include the cession of the entire Donbass region to Russia - an area the size of Thuringia in which around 200,000 Ukrainians still live. "Ukraine has to make concessions because Russia is the more powerful country," explained Trump after the meeting.
Against this backdrop, Macron, Merz, Meloni, Rutte, Starmer, Stubb and von der Leyen tried to get the ceasefire back on the table. Trump, however, changed his tone several times. On the one hand, he praised the Europeans for their "heavy burden" and promised: "We will help them." On the other hand, he declared that there were "no more overly complicated" points of contention and emphasized: "I love the Ukrainians, I love the Russians, I love them all."
No concrete results
Another source of irritation was the fact that Trump said he spoke directly to Putin on the phone during the summit. A highly unusual occurrence that caused his guests to shake their heads. At the same time, Russia struck again: while the delegations were arriving in Washington, the air sirens were wailing in Kyiv. Air strikes had previously killed at least 14 people, including a small child.
The meeting did not produce any concrete results. Neither Chancellor Merz nor Dutch Prime Minister Rutte were able to present any promises of US security guarantees for Ukraine afterwards. Rutte spoke of "good talks" that would continue - but a ceasefire was not in sight.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump announced his intention to prepare a bilateral meeting between Putin and Selensky. He then planned a three-way summit. He did not specify a time frame.
