Trump says US is putting pressure on Moscow – but is that the case?published at 20:08 British Summer Time
Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent
We just got a significant insight into Trump’s thinking there, which supports the notion that the White House has not demanded any meaningful territorial concessions of Putin.
Trump was asked by a reporter what concessions Russian had offered up so far. “Stopping the war,” said Trump.
“Stopping taking the whole country, pretty big concession,” he added.
We already know the White House tends to mirror some Kremlin talking points – and this one felt like it could only be justified as a “concession” based on Putin’s previous false claims that Ukraine has never been a nation or separate state of its own.
This week, the leaked White House proposal for a ceasefire had Moscow keeping virtually all the territory it currently occupies, plus formal US recognition of Russian control of Crimea, with front lines frozen.
In other words, Russia gets to keep a big chunk of Ukraine in return for simply stopping its invasion.
But Trump’s thesis here that “stopping [Russia] taking the whole country” is a concession is false.
In fact, Ukrainian forces, backed with US and European arms, fought back Russian forces in 2022, forcing Putin into a retreat and stopping him taking Kyiv and therefore potentially the whole country early in the invasion.
