Putin goes from pariah to negotiating partner as Trump announces meeting

For a decade, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the West’s pariah after first annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and then launching a full-scale invasion of the country.

For a decade, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the West’s pariah after first annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and then launching a full-scale invasion of the country. Now, President Donald Trump has given Putin a big boost— and possibly re-entry onto the global stage — by offering him much of what he’s been asking for in Ukraine.

While Trump has made no secret that he planned a radical departure from the goal of an ostensible outright Ukrainian victory pursued by then-President Joe Biden, his comments Wednesday — including that Russia “fought for that land and they lost a lot of soldiers” — startled observers, and apparently governments, across Europe.

“Trump has given Ukraine to Putin,” former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves wrote on X. While Michael McFaul,  former U.S. ambassador to Russia who is currently at the Munich Security Conference, asked why the Trump administration was “giving Putin gifts  — Ukrainian land and no NATO membership for Ukraine — before negotiations even begin.”

He added,  “I’ve negotiated with the Russians. You never give up anything to them for free.”

A Ukrainian soldier pauses at a military base on the front line near Pokrovsk. Wolfgang Schwan / Anadolu via Getty ImagesUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put a brave face on his response — as many observers say he has little choice but to do when it comes to Washington, Ukraine’s biggest benefactor — saying that while Trump's call with Putin was "not pleasant," he still trusted the president's assertion that Moscow was not being prioritized.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-trump-meeting-ukraine-russia-rcna191988

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