Sanctions, Ultimatums, and Strikes: Expert Assesses How Trump’s Approach to Russia Has Changed

Political strategist Mikhail Sheitelman stated that Ukraine’s relations with the United States have totally improved over the past year. Trump has replaced his main aides and no longer shows any leniency toward Russia, Politeka reports.
He discussed this in his blog.

To assess Ukraine’s current position, the expert notes, we need to look back a year. The day after the election victory, he recalls, Trump and Zelensky had a phone conversation about ending the war—but Elon Musk was also part of that call, and, fortunately, he is no longer involved in the process. Later, Sheitelman continues, negotiations were handled by Witkoff—he was the one who traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin, and Dmitriev flew to the U.S. to discuss trade with him, and so on—but now Witkoff has also been removed from these affairs.

“Who’s in charge today? Rubio. In a post after his call with Putin, Trump mentioned only one name. He wrote that he had spoken with Putin, that negotiations would take place in Budapest, and that the delegation preparing these talks would be led by Rubio. In other words, he stated clearly—no more Witkoff. He understands that Witkoff has already been bought, so now everything will be handled by Rubio. New sanctions, permission for HIMARS to strike dams, Storm Shadow missiles targeting factories and depots. All this within a year. Our position in relations with the U.S. has totally improved over the year,” emphasizes Mikhail Sheitelman.

And while the Kremlin keeps repeating that the meeting in Budapest has merely been postponed, he notes, the White House clearly says it’s been canceled. Now, the expert adds, Trump is setting the terms for a meeting with Putin—he wants to reach a concrete agreement, not waste time.

“Then comes a small but interesting intrigue. Putin says: ‘These sanctions don’t scare us.’ Trump responds: ‘All right, we’ll see in six months whether they scare you or not.’ And then Trump says something about the Tomahawks—that Ukrainian soldiers need six months of training. Coincidence? Six months. In six months, we’ll see how the sanctions work, and it also takes six months to train Ukrainian troops to use Tomahawks. Coincidence? I don’t think so,” concludes Mikhail Sheitelman.

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