Putin has the upper hand in meeting with Trump on Ukraine

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Once again, a willfully blind President Donald Trump is walking into a trap set by Russian leader Vladimir Putin — by agreeing to meet him for a summit in Alaska on Aug. 15.

No matter how many times Putin insults the president and ignores his calls for a total ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump returns for more humiliation. He refuses to recognize that Putin has no interest in peace.

After a few weeks of bluster about his "disappointment" with Putin, Trump has once again ignored a deadline he set (Aug. 8) for imposing secondary sanctions on Moscow.

Instead, he has agreed to reward the Russian leader with a summit before Putin even agrees to a temporary ceasefire. And so far, Trump is excluding President Volodymyr Zelensky from the meeting. Shades of 1938 indeed.

Never mind that Putin still insists Ukraine has no right to exist, recently declaring that "all of Ukraine is ours." Never mind that this war criminal told Trump’s hopelessly naive emissary, Steve Witkoff, that he won’t accept less than full Ukrainian capitulation.

And never mind that Moscow pundits are joking that, just as Russia is "restoring" Ukraine to Russian control, it should retake Alaska, which a Russian tsar sold to America in 1867.

Once again, Trump appears ready — no, eager — to play into Putin’s hands.

Just holding the meeting will be a diplomatic victory for Putin, who wants to emerge from isolation by the West for his brutal invasion. The summit will halt what seemed to be mounting momentum in Europe, in the U.S. Senate, and even in the White House for penalizing Putin over his continuation of the war.

Putin will be trying to deflect any further U.S. implementation of secondary sanctions on Russian oil exports or banks, or seizure of frozen Russian assets. The White House has clumsily proposed sanctions on India for massive purchases of cheap Russian oil, but not yet imposed them on Russia’s biggest customer, China.

And the Russian leader looks likely to receive even more free gifts on Aug. 15.

By excluding European allies, Trump also furthers the Kremlin’s goal of splitting any united NATO position on Ukraine.

And Putin also gains more time to continue his brutal air assault on Ukraine. If past is prologue, the Russian leader will tantalize Trump with offers of fantasy business deals, while fooling him with alleged concessions that actually aid Moscow.

One such proposal is a partial ceasefire limited to the air war. This may sound good given Russia’s missile and drone assault on Ukrainian hospitals, apartment buildings, and other civilian sites across the country. But it is a poison pill for Ukraine.

Kiev’s main strength lies in the air, as its drones slow down Russia’s creeping ground advances, achieved by sacrificing large amounts of troops. Ukrainian drones now also target critical military infrastructure inside Russia, and keep Russian ships out of the Black Sea along the Ukrainian coast.

Freeze the air war, and you give Moscow carte blanche to advance by land and sea. There is no way Kiev could accept such a terrible proposal, even if it tantalized the ill-informed Trump.

If the president were serious about seeking peace, he would drop the idea of a premature summit. Even Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who understands Putin but has been too sycophantic to oppose Trump publicly) has said summits should be reserved as closers on an accord. In other words, not used to beg.

Trump would also stop treating the Europeans as enemies with his blunderbuss tariffs. He would join with Europe in coordinating secondary sanctions on the Kremlin. (And he would be working behind the scenes to discourage purchases of cheap Russian energy by India, which is nominally an ally, instead of publicly berating Delhi.)

Moreover, the White House would be coordinating closely with Europe — and Ukraine — in helping Kiev massively bolster its own weapons production, which it could do cheaply and quickly, including drones and drone interceptors.

The Europeans, unlike the Trump administration, grasp the danger of Putin’s imperial dreams of territorial expansion, not only in Europe but in areas that directly threaten the United States, such as the Arctic. They understand geopolitics, which Trump doesn’t.

Trump should accept Zelensky’s offer to produce huge numbers of Ukrainian drones for America in exchange for essential U.S. weapons systems. This would not only counter Russian technological advances but would help provide the United States with battle-tested drone technology it lacks.

Of course, all of the above would require Trump to emerge from the bubble in which he still believes he can bend dictators and autocrats to his will by force of his personality. That is probably far too much to hope for.

One can only hope that Putin so overplays his hand in Alaska that even Trump understands he is being played for a fool — and opts not to shoot himself in the foot and Ukraine in the back.

_____

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Trudy Rubin
Philadelphia Inquirer
(TNS)

Previously:

• 06/09/24: Ukraine's drone attack was more than a morale booster, it showed the new face of modern war

• 06/05/24: US, allies must stop playing 'Patriot games' with Ukraine

• 05/15/24: The biggest story last week was not Stormy Daniels or campus protests

• 11/20/23: Documentary sheds light on Putin's mass murder in Ukraine

• 11/16/23: Even Tlaib should know better

• 9/22/23: Russia's kidnapping of Ukrainian children under the spotlight at United Nations

• 9/22/23: Biden should resolve the blockage of visas for Iraqis and Afghans who helped our troops

• 9/11/23: Even on vacation, there's no escaping Putin's murderous intentions

• 08/18/23: With new weapons slow to arrive from NATO allies, Ukraine surprises Putin with sea drones

• 08/09/23: Lessons from a military funeral in Ukraine

• 07/28/23: As Russian missiles again rain down on Odesa, Putin sneers at the UN and NATO allies

• 07/24/23: Putin is playing a game of food blackmail. The West can't let him win

• 07/19/23: Can Ukraine win the war against Russia? I'm traveling there to find out

• 07/17/23: From hell to Harvard: One Ukrainian's escape and how you can help fulfill her dreams

• 07/11/23: At the NATO summit in Vilnius: Will Biden seize or squander the chance to end Putin's war on Ukraine?

• 04/21/23: The Pentagon documents leak will embolden Putin as he tries to outlast Ukraine

• 03/22/23: The Russian attack on a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone underlines why we must help Ukraine win

• 03/15/23: Will the White House have the courage to propel a Ukrainian victory this year?

• 02/21/23: On the first anniversary of Putin's invasion, Ukraine fights on for its independence and for the security of the West

• 02/17/23: A former Pakistani leader's death, and his wise peace plan that failed

• 02/09/23: Earthquakes killed nearly 12,000 people this week. Three men are partly to blame

• 01/24/23: As Russia murders civilians in Dnipro, why won't NATO send weapons that could end the war?

• 12/28/22: What Zelensky worried about when he addressed a cheering Congress

• 12/13/22: The US-China conflict to watch is the Chip War --- which centers on Taiwan

• 09/14/22: Ukraine scores sudden breakthrough that should energize Western support

• 09/09/22: Queen Elizabeth's death deprives Britain and the world of a rock of stability

• 09/08/22: After Gorbachev's death, Putin wants the world to know he is the 'anti-Gorbi'

• 08/26/22: 6 months after Russia's war vs. Ukraine began, the West still won't give Kiev the weapons to win

• 08/15/22: Ukraine's civilian volunteers work to give aid and rebuild, even as Russia continues to bomb them

• 08/08/22: A trip near the front lines finds Ukrainian troops ready for a battle that could decide the war

• 06/13/22: The critical battles for Ukraine and for America are being fought right here, right now

• 05/02/22: Save Odesa to save the world from hunger and high food prices

• 05/02/22: Bloodless Ukrainian War, not utopian fantasy says one-time largest foreign investor in Russia

• 04/11/22: The only way to end Putin's war crimes

• 03/28/22: Don't let Putin's nuclear and chemical threats stop us from giving Ukraine what it needs

• 03/24/22: An elegy for Mariupol, where I walked six weeks ago. Now razed by Russian bombs

• 03/18/22: Zelensky's brilliant speech should impel Biden and Congress to protect Ukrainian skies

• 03/11/22: Mariupol's bombed maternity hospital exemplifies why NATO should protect Ukraine's skies

• 03/10/22: No 'no-fly zone'? Then NATO must find another way to protect Ukraine's skies

• 03/07/22: The third World War has already started in Ukraine. Europe and the US should wake up

• 03/04/22:Putin must be stopped from turning Kiev into Aleppo

• 03/02/22:Why is Belarus helping Russia invade Ukraine? An explainer on the latest in the conflict

• 02/25/22: What the UN should finally do about Russia

• 02/24/22: Why Putin's Ukraine aggression will change the world --- an explainer on how we got here

• 02/10/22: Ukrainian civilians train for war with cardboard guns: 'We are scared but we are ready

• 01/13/22:Putin wants to reestablish the Russian empire. Can NATO stop him without war?

• 12/10/21: Can Biden and NATO prevent Putin from invading Ukraine? Summit puts it to the test

• 12/02/21: Boris Johnson stirs up new Irish Troubles for his own personal political gains

• 11/22/21: Xi Jinping thinks America is on the rocks. Is he correct?

• 08/18/21: President Biden, get our Afghan allies on evacuation planes

• 08/18/21:The horror of Afghan women abandoned by Biden's troop pullout

• 08/09/21:China is pushing a big COVID-19 lie that makes a new pandemic harder to prevent

• 05/27/21: Punish Belarus leader for Ryanair hijacking before air piracy becomes dictators' new tool

• 04/14/21: Can Beethoven temper the political tensions between US and China?

• 06/01/20: US must stand with Hong Kong against Beijing's efforts to crush its freedoms

• 05/20/20: COVID-19 offers a chance to halt Iran's hostage diplomacy

• 05/21/14: Newscycle spurs visit to country my family fled

• 04/21/14: Blind to Putin's strategy?

• 12/24/13: Obama's Syrian indifference has led to more death and destruction. Meet some real heroes

• 12/13/13: Where liberals have come to love the military

• 12/09/13: The China strategy

• 11/05/13: Return to Iraq is worth a close look

• 10/01/13: Obama's call to Iran: Who was really on the line?

• 09/11/13: How Obama got Syria so wrong

• 07/24/13: It's time for Obama to tell Putin 'nyet'

• 05/15/13: What Russia gave Kerry on Syria --- very little

Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer.