U.S. president's charm offensive, bombastic threats have achieved little

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Attempts at peace in Ukraine are being drowned out in a war of words between Washington and Moscow. Donald Trump’s charm offensive with Vladimir Putin offering unilateral concessions with nothing in return — all carrots, no sticks — has been a dismal failure. The U.S. president has made empty threat after empty threat regarding imposing further sanctions as leverage to secure movement, but his tactic of mollycoddling the Russian leader, while basically ignoring Ukraine, is bordering on farce. Trump pressures Ukraine, the victim, erratically but bizarrely not Russia, the invader.

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Bullying rhetoric has not worked either. When Trump bluntly urged Putin to “STOP” massive drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian civilians weeks ago, followed by a two-hour phone call with Putin on May 19, Russia intensified its attacks. After the call, Trump issued an upbeat statement on Truth Social claiming Russia and Ukraine “would immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire.” But nothing happened. According to the Russian version of the call, Trump “expressed his position on the cessation of hostilities” whereas Putin noted tellingly that Russia is intent on “eliminating the root causes” of the crisis. In other words, Ukraine must accept Russian hegemony, a position that Moscow has held to unflinchingly. Trump’s persistent threats of additional sanctions are hollow. He clearly prefers strong words over concrete deeds.

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