Trump’s New Position on the War in Ukraine: Not My Problem

The New York Times ^ | May 20, 2025 Updated 6:09 p.m. ET | David E. Sanger, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman and Michael Schwirtz

[E. Pluribus Unum]

In a reversal, President Trump appears to have backed off joining a European push for new sanctions on Russia, seemingly eager to move on to doing business deals with it.

For months, President Trump has been threatening to simply walk away from the frustrating negotiations for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.

After a phone call on Monday between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, that appears to be exactly what the American president is doing. The deeper question now is whether he is also abandoning America’s three-year-long project to support Ukraine, a nascent democracy that he has frequently blamed for being illegally invaded.

Mr. Trump told President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and other European leaders after his call with Mr. Putin that Russia and Ukraine would have to find a solution to the war themselves, just days after saying that only he and Mr. Putin had the power to broker a deal. And he backed away from his own threats to join a European pressure campaign that would include new sanctions on Russia, according to six officials who were familiar with the discussion. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Their account sheds light on Mr. Trump’s decision to throw up his hands when it comes to a peace process that he had previously promised to resolve in just 24 hours. And, unless he again reverses course, Monday’s developments left Mr. Putin with exactly what he wanted: not only an end to American pressure, but the creation of a deep fissure inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, between the Americans and their traditional European allies, who say they are going ahead with sanctions anyway.

To many, Mr. Trump’s decision was foretold — first by his fiery, televised encounter with Mr. Zelensky in the Oval...

[Singermom]

Let’s put zel and putin in a room together and fight to the death. Let all the soldier’s survive. Enough already. Also STOP giving zel $.

[Candor7]

The Slimes is a pay site.

No thanks.

[dadfly]

hope it’s true. should have walked away the first day. not our fight. not our war.

[lightman]

Cur off Zleneskyy.

Then it will be “not our money, not our problem”.

Those who don’t want the Donesk to return to Russia are the real “election deniers”.

[Veto!]

I don’t give a flying fig about Ukraine or Russia, though St. Petersburg would be nice to visit. Peter the Great built a fabulous museum and nice homes with canals. Those were the days.

Z is a moron. Putin is very smart, watched Tucker Carlson’s 90 minute interview with him. Don’t like Putin but I respect him.
.
And yes, not our fight. But the Bidenistas gave him so many weapons that Trump’s weapons advisor said we can no longer defend ourselves

[Pres Raygun]

Classic Trump negotiation. He is willing to rehabilitate Putin if Putin is willing to work out a peace deal with Ukraine without the EU’s input. It makes him a unbiased broker in Putin’s eye. If Putin will agree to peace he needs an off ramp and Trump is giving him that off ramp. But Putin has a time window to act, and if he doesn’t act quickly, Trump will come down hard and make Putin pay.

[dadfly]

China and Ukraine, very similar in the sense that they made suckers out of our greedy globalist elites. Russia is like the fuse for both booby traps. we need put as much spiritual, economic and military deterrence between us and them as possible. thank God they are in a different hemisphere from us already. Trump apparently has a different idea. he thinks he can manage them all. God continue help him.

[_longranger81]

Not our circus, not our monkeys.

[Biblebelter]

Trump is an optimist.

He believes in the possible.

Where there is a will there is a way.

But NEITHER gangsta has the WILL to end the war because it is not in either’s self-interest.

This ain’t about Russia and it ain’t about the Ukraine.

It is about two gangstas not much different from the gangstas throughout history who have fought over this same territory time and again.

Trump gave it his best shot.

[nathanbedford]

Monday’s developments left Mr. Putin with exactly what he wanted: not only an end to American pressure, but the creation of a deep fissure inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, between the Americans and their traditional European allies,

A disgraceful culmination of the shameful Oval Office humiliation of Ukraine.

A triumph consciously granted to Putin by the Trump administration that could not be had on the ground, a victory for isolationists that has undermined America's power to deter multiple enemies, including China, a poison pill to every disillusioned ally and potential ally who now understands they cannot rely on American promises, a signal to all nations to act unilaterally and selfishly in their own interest because we are descending into a Hobbesian universe, a dangerous step toward the proliferation of nuclear weapons among those who no longer trust us or who despise us and among those who fear Iran and China, a retreat of Western civilization that brings us one step closer to a fateful disintegration.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You sure do like to ramble incoherently.

[citizen]

EP Unum is one big liberal mole.

All he posts is propaganda from ultra-liberal sites.

[nathanbedford]

The incoherence is coming, the result of an incoherent foreign policy.

[McGruff]

It’s a European problem. Let the Coalition of the Socialists handle it.

[McGruff]

You should go fight for Youkraine.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You want a world war so badly you can taste it, can’t you?

[nathanbedford]

Strawman.

No one is asking you to fight for Ukraine.

[nathanbedford]

This shameful abandonment of our promises to Ukraine puts us on a much shorter path to war.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

The war must be resolved the way most are—on the battlefield. One side wins, one side loses. What started as a Civil war has become a regional war with some international elements. England and NATO supporting Ukraine and North Korea and Iran helping Russia. When convulsions in the political landscape force Europe out, Russia will win. It could be two months or two years.