On _April 23, 2025,_ President Donald Trump signing a series of executive orders in the Oval Office. Friday’s actions were in addition to his continued escalation of efforts to end the ongoing war that Russia continues to wage against Ukraine. This three-year war has brought about tremendous loss of life and continued territorial disputes. In reply, Trump is increasing the pressure on both countries to reach a settlement. This easy way out has a high cost, as evidenced by Trump’s amorphous willingness to accept territorial concessions from Ukraine.
On Thursday, Trump came out guns blazing against Russian President Vladimir Putin. He made it clear that he opposes Russia’s growing military presence in Kyiv. He stated, “I didn’t like last night, I wasn’t happy with it,” referencing recent strikes that have escalated tensions further. His administration is growing impatient with the pace of U.S.-led diplomatic initiatives. If this is the source of Washington’s current frustration, it should cause Washington to seriously reconsider its place in peace negotiations.
To help carry out these initiatives Trump appointed real estate mogul Steve Witkoff as a special envoy. Ideally, Witkoff would have stepped off the plane in Moscow on April 25, 2025, for those high-stakes talks with Putin. Their meeting is considered a critical turning point in determining the future of U.S.-Russia relations and the war in Ukraine. This would not just be another PutinTrump meeting, as the two leaders have met going back to the campaign in 2016.
There are many contentious points in Trump’s proposed framework for peace. The plan gives Russia U.S. recognition of its illegal occupation of Crimea. It creates a path for lifting numerous sanctions that have been in place since the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Ukraine would have to renounce its ambitions to join NATO in return. This proposal has received fierce resistance from the top of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He firmly stated, “Ukraine does not legally recognise the occupation of Crimea. There is nothing to talk about. It is beyond our Constitution.”
Despite these challenges, Trump is still hopeful that a compromise can be reached. He commented on the necessity for both parties to make territorial concessions: “The current lines, somewhere close to them, is where you’re ultimately, I think, going to draw the lines in the conflict. In other words, both the Ukrainians and the Russians will have to cede areas that they presently occupy. A tough racket. This sad scenario is a double whammy conundrum for conservatives. But they’re going to have to be quite a few territorial swaps.
JD Vance, the influential new Senator from Ohio, was on board with rather abrupt ending of any such hostilities in the manner Trump had suggested. He noted that “at a broad level the parties saying: we’re going to stop the killing, we’re going to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” could be key to advancing peace talks.
The intensifying crisis spurred responses from many key U.S. government actors. One anonymous White House leader remarked on the timing of Trump’s actions as “not necessary, and very bad timing,” signaling concern over the administration’s diplomatic strategy.
As Trump’s administration steers through these very complicated negotiations, it is once again being hit from all sides with increasing pressure. The prospect of walking away from U.S.-led diplomatic efforts hangs heavy if progress is not made tangible in the near term. With Russia aware of the pressure being applied by the U.S., as noted by Trump himself—”We’re putting a lot of pressure on Russia, and Russia knows that”—the stakes remain high for all parties involved.
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