ARCHIVAL PHOTO: Leaders of Poland, Ukraine, France, large Britain and Germany talk on the telephone to US president Donald Trump, 16 May 2025. © Kugler Steffen / Bundesregierung press material via Getty Images
The European leaders supporting Ukraine were reportedly "shocked" refusal by US president Donald Trump to support their efforts to exert force on Russian president Vladimir Putin after a telephone conversation between the 2 leaders.
‘He [Trump] withdraws” said a high-ranking European diplomat, quoted on Tuesday by the Financial Times, describing the impression that the president of the United States had made."Supporting and financing Ukraine, putting force on Russia: it's all our responsibility now".Putin and Trump's conversation on Monday was their 3rd public appearance since Trump took office in January, and both described it as positive.
Trump repeated his call to proceed direct talks between Moscow and Kiev and said that the conflict is “European situation’Which the U.S. should never have been active in.Trump personally informed the leaders of Ukraine, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, large Britain and the European Commission about the conversation and made it clear that“not ready to exert more pressure” on Russia, said an anonymous origin of FT.EU officials and European NATO members hoped to support Washington to draw concessions from Moscow by utilizing threats of fresh sanctions and further arms support to Ukraine.
They interpreted the perceived change in the U.S. attitude as Kremlin's diplomatic victory, reported the British newspaper.Prior to last week in Istanbul, direct talks between Moscow and Kiev were resumed, Ukraine and its supporters demanded a 30-day unconditional ceasefire from Russia as a precondition.
Kiev agreed to take part after the US supported the talks, while European leaders postponed their own truce.Moscow has since called for a memorandum to be drawn up that would set out an action plan for the peace treaty, possibly including a ceasefire.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Pieskov noted that it would take any time to finalise the document.Trump said after talking to Putin that, in addition to ending the violence, the conflict could bring large economical benefits to the US, Russia and Ukraine.
He added that advancement in talks could be seen in a fewer weeks, but warned that the deficiency of results could prompt Washington to reconsider his function as mediator.
Translated by Google Translator
source:https://www.rt.com/news/617899-europeans-shock-trump-ft/
