WP: Trump Is Playing With Putin Again

Will the meeting in Budapest change the situation?

US President Donald Trump is showing renewed confidence in Putin despite all indications that Moscow has no intention of ending the war against Ukraine, writes The Washington Post (translated by the website Charter97.org).

Observers compare their relationship to American cartoonist Charles Schulz's comic strip about Charlie Brown and Lucy: every time Brown tries to hit the ball, Lucy takes it away at the last moment - and it falls. In this metaphor, Trump is Charlie Brown, Putin is Lucy, and peace in Ukraine is that ball.

Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has repeatedly stated that "Putin wants to end the war." However, Russia's actions suggest otherwise. After a series of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities in April, Trump threatened sanctions but soon relented - Putin persuaded him to meet in August in Alaska. Sanctions disappeared from the agenda, and talk of a cease-fire stalled.

Now history is repeating itself, with Putin again persuading Trump to delay the delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine and agree to a meeting in Budapest. Trump even pressured Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, saying Ukraine would be "destroyed" if it did not accept Putin's terms.

In the meantime, Ukraine continues its offensive and Russia is suffering heavy casualties. Experts estimate that Russian troops have captured only 0.4 percent of the territory with hundreds of thousands dead. Europe is stepping up its support for Kiev - European aid has exceeded American aid for the first time, and over $200 billion in frozen Russian assets are planned to be sent to Ukraine as an interest-free loan.

But as long as Trump allows Putin to "drive himself around," the chances of a real end to the war remain elusive.

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