If there is not enough coordination between Europe and the United States in the negotiations conducted by US President Donald Trump on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, their outcome may be detrimental to both Ukraine and Europe. This was announced today, May 19, by Czech President Petr Pavel.
According to him, Russia is trying not only to get the territory of Ukraine, but also to achieve recognition on the world stage. Therefore, according to Pavel, Vladimir Putin prefers direct talks with Trump, rather than communication with Vladimir Zelensky and European leaders, whom he "does not consider equal." At the same time, the Czech leader said that Trump wants to go down in history as the man who made the deal on Ukraine, but this is a "risky step."
"For the American president, it is not so important whether Ukraine will lose territory, whether it will be forced to demilitarize or will be neutral. The big motivation is to go down in history as the person who concluded the deal and contributed to the normalization of US—Russian relations ... The risk of this procedure is that if there is not enough coordination between Europe and the United States, the results of this deal may be harmful not only for Ukraine, but also for Europe in the future," Pavel said.
According to the Czech president, European leaders should "put pressure on the United States" to take into account the future situation in the region.
"Pressure on Russia is growing not only on the battlefield, but also in the economy. The Russian economy has been under a lot of pressure lately, this will put pressure on President Putin, forcing him to make concessions, but he will certainly try to squeeze as much out of it as possible until the last moment," Pavel believes.
Recall, the Czech Republic condemns Russia's actions on Ukraine and strongly supports Kiev. In addition, the Czech authorities are in favor of increasing pressure on Moscow, and are also actively spreading Russophobia in the EU.