European Solidarity warns against bilateral talks with Russia based on Trump-Putin talks
Co-chair of the European Solidarity faction in the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Heraschenko called the prospect of direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, which were allegedly agreed upon during a phone call on Monday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, a trap for Putin that will allow him to endlessly continue the war and shift responsibility to Ukraine.
"Direct negotiations, without the United States and the EU as guarantors at the table – this is Putin's scenario and trap. He has traditionally been stalling and manipulating in order to avoid tightening sanctions and continuing the war. Making the most of the weakness and disagreements of the West. Direct negotiations without a mediator and guarantors of the implementation of agreements are the Kremlin's dream, in order to endlessly shift responsibility to Ukraine, stall for time and continue to kill," Heraschenko said in X.
According to her, as a result of negotiations with Trump, Putin achieved another of his goals, breaking Putin's international isolation. According to Heraschenko, in this context, the position of the European Union, Great Britain, and the Coalition of the Willing becomes even more important.
In turn, MP of the European Solidarity faction Mykola Kniazhytsky believes that Trump's version of the results of the negotiations has not fundamentally changed anything. "There is no agreement on a ceasefire, and Trump did not even mention it… But it is obvious: Putin did not start the war to trade with America. Russia traded before the war. Trade did not interest him then, and it does not interest him now… Another confirmation that no 'art of the deal' can compete with the art of the KGB school," he said on Facebook.
At the same time, the MP called the main problem of bilateral negotiations between Ukraine and Russia that the parties "simply have nothing to talk about" and that in a bilateral format, without the United States and the Europeans, Ukraine and Russia "can only discuss prisoner exchanges or the return of kidnapped children." "Of what can be considered important for now, the initiative for a 30-day ceasefire, Witkoff's 22 points and other formats, such as the Kellogg plan, are currently effectively removed from discussion," Kniazhytsky said.
Non-partisan MP from the European Solidarity faction, Oleksiy Honcharenko, called the result of Putin's conversation with Trump the fact that the United Sates made it clear that it would withdraw from the negotiations. "And this is because we agreed to direct negotiations with Russia without the United States. We had to stand until the last moment so that the United States was at the negotiations and was part of the negotiations. And now it will be like this: well, Ukraine and Russia could not come to an agreement, sorry. This is our diplomatic defeat," he said on Telegram.
Honcharenko predicts that there will be no peace by the end of this year, since Putin wants to fight and intends to conduct another offensive campaign, after which he wants to sit down at the negotiating table and negotiate.
MP Ahtem Chiygoz said the experience of the March negotiations with Russia in 2022 became an important lesson for Ukrainians that the Russians do not need negotiations, but the capitulation of Ukraine or accusations of the Ukrainian side of non-negotiation. "Their demands for the absence of other parties are evidence that they are not ready for constructiveness, so they do not need witnesses – to be able to read out their version of the negotiations, to refer to their protocol. While our delegation demonstrated a desire for constructiveness," he said on Facebook.
