US donald trump Ukraine

Trump announced that he and Putin have agreed to start Russia-Ukraine peace talks, and then he informed Ukraine – 26 sceptical responses

Oonagh Keating. Updated February 13th, 2025

Three weeks after taking office, Donald Trump has set the wheels in motion to end the war in Ukraine – something he had claimed during his campaign that he would achieve in one day.

By a huge coincidence, the dramatic development came just a day after the release of American schoolteacher Marc Fogel from a Russian prison, more than ten years earlier than his sentence was due to end, thanks to an unspecified deal between Vladimir Putin and Trump.

There was immediate speculation about whether concessions on Ukraine could form part of the deal – especially after this comment.

It soon emerged that the release of prolific cybercriminal Alexander Vinnik was part of the Trump-Putin agreement.

It took another lengthy (reportedly 90-minute) phone call between the two presidents to agree to a formal start to ‘peace talks’ regarding Ukraine.

He later spoke to Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, although that report was a little shorter, and less like the diary entry of a smitten schoolgirl.

Whatever may be going on in his head, Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented a positive and extremely diplomatic face to the world, both at his nightly address to Ukranians, and in this post.

Although the talks have technically not begun, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (Yes, we’re still pinching ourselves over that one, too) broadly spelt out U.S. policy on the next steps.

Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko summed up the noises coming out of the Department of Defense.

His comment was very much in line with levels of optimism elsewwhere.

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