President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also begun distancing
himself from Washington because he has “lost patience” with the state of
trilateral talks, the report said.
NYT compared the current relationship between the two
countries to a “trial separation.” One factor was the U.S.-Israeli conflict with
Iran. U.S.-mediated talks on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine effectively
stalled in late February because of the escalation in the Middle East.
The report said the diplomatic process is in deep crisis,
while Zelenskyy has begun publicly criticizing Washington in ways he had
previously avoided because of Ukraine’s dependence on U.S. support.
Zelenskyy stressed that after the start of the war in Iran,
U.S. negotiators paid little attention to the Ukraine talks. He complained
that, while pushing Ukraine toward territorial concessions, the Trump
administration “is still choosing a strategy that involves greater pressure on
the Ukrainian side” than on Russia.
Harry Nedelcu, senior director at Rasmussen Global, called
the peace talks “dead.” Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy has forced Kyiv to
become more self-reliant, NYT reported.
Maksym Skrypchenko of the Center for Transatlantic Dialogue
said Ukraine could manage even if the flow of U.S. weapons decreased, but
replacing U.S. intelligence would be difficult. Ukraine also needs Patriot
interceptor missiles. At the same time, political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko
stressed that dialogue with the United States remains important and that Kyiv
cannot fully abandon cooperation.
On May 8, Trump said he would consider sending a U.S.
delegation to Moscow for talks on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“I would very much like to see an end to the conflict
between Russia and Ukraine, where 25,000 young soldiers died last month, and
that’s an average of 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers a month,” Trump said.
The Kremlin said at the time that it considered three-way
talks in a U.S.-Ukraine-Russia format inappropriate until Ukraine withdraws its
troops from the part of Donbas it controls. A Russian representative presented
this as a condition for ending hostilities and starting discussions on a
long-term settlement.
On May 2, Politico reported that Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was likely developing a strategy for negotiating with
Russia without U.S. involvement.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly stressed that Ukraine will not
withdraw its troops from Donbas. He said Donetsk Oblast has the strongest
defensive lines, and that if Ukraine pulled back from there, Russian forces
would have an open path into central Ukraine.