{"id":246311,"date":"2025-02-25T11:19:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T11:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/25\/facing-trumps-hostility-ukraine-weighs-its-options-but-they-are-few\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T11:19:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T11:19:22","slug":"facing-trumps-hostility-ukraine-weighs-its-options-but-they-are-few","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/25\/facing-trumps-hostility-ukraine-weighs-its-options-but-they-are-few\/","title":{"rendered":"Facing Trump\u2019s Hostility, Ukraine Weighs Its Options. But They Are Few."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/23\/multimedia\/23ukraine-options-01-pjmg\/23ukraine-options-01-pjmg-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Facing Trump\u2019s Hostility, Ukraine Weighs Its Options. But They Are Few.\" title=\"Facing Trump\u2019s Hostility, Ukraine Weighs Its Options. But They Are Few.\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The antagonistic messaging President Trump has delivered to Ukraine since taking office has presented leaders in Kyiv with a brutal reckoning: that the United States can no longer be counted on as a supporter, and may even be an adversary, in the effort to end the war with Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the past two weeks, Mr. Trump has initiated direct peace talks with Russia and dismissed Ukraine\u2019s protests that it should have a seat at the negotiating table. He has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/19\/world\/europe\/ukraine-zelensky-trump-russia-war.html\" title=\"\">called Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a \u201cdictator\u201d<\/a> and falsely claimed that Ukraine was responsible for the war that Russia started with its 2022 invasion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the war enters its fourth year, that enmity has prompted Kyiv to reassess what leverage, if any, it still holds over America\u2019s policy in Ukraine and to explore alternative options to safeguard its interests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There are few of them, and none are ideal, analysts and Ukrainian officials say. Ukraine can curry favor with Mr. Trump by dangling lucrative economic deals, such as the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/world\/europe\/ukraine-us-mineral-wealth-deal.html\" title=\"\">minerals agreement currently under negotiation<\/a>, but at the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/22\/world\/europe\/ukraine-trump-minerals.html\" title=\"\">risk of facing onerous terms in return<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If American support dries up, Kyiv could hold out on the battlefield as long as it can \u2014 which could be only a few months \u2014 hoping Mr. Trump acknowledges that peace talks cannot proceed without its involvement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the meantime, Ukraine has made an emphatic pivot toward Europe as its new closest partner and potential security guarantor. In the past few days, Mr. Zelensky has engaged in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/world\/europe\/europe-ukraine-anniversary.html\" title=\"\">numerous calls and meetings with his European counterparts<\/a> to discuss increased military support, including peacekeeping troops on the ground. On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron of France <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/us\/politics\/trump-macron-ukraine.html\" title=\"\">pleaded Ukraine\u2019s case at the White House<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Either way, \u201cUkraine should not count on U.S. support in negotiations,\u201d Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/vladimir.fesenko1\/posts\/28551076391207502?ref=embed_post\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote on Facebook<\/a> last week \u2014 an approach that not long ago would have seemed unimaginable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Ukrainians, it is difficult to adapt to this new situation, said Alyona Getmanchuk, the head of New Europe Center, a Kyiv-based think tank, and Mr. Zelensky\u2019s pick to be Ukraine\u2019s next NATO ambassador. \u201cWe\u2019ve long been used to having the U.S. on our side, and we still need them fully on our side,\u201d she said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After Mr. Trump returned to office in January, Ukraine hoped to appeal to his business-oriented mind-set as leverage. It <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/12\/world\/europe\/trump-ukraine-rare-earth-minerals.html\" title=\"\">offered a deal on access to critical minerals<\/a>, which are key to modern technology manufacturing, in exchange for continued American support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Trump flipped the concept on its head, demanding <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/15\/world\/europe\/ukraine-minerals-us-deal-rejected.html\" title=\"\">a deal worth $500 billion in Ukraine\u2019s natural resources<\/a>, including minerals, oil, and gas, without offering anything in return. Mr. Trump has framed access to Ukraine\u2019s resources as \u201cpayback\u201d for Washington\u2019s past aid to Kyiv. The real value of American assistance to Ukraine so far is about $120 billion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Kyiv has rejected several versions of a deal that it deems too onerous. As of Monday evening, officials on both sides were working on a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/world\/europe\/ukraine-us-mineral-wealth-deal.html\" title=\"\">revised agreement with more favorable terms for Ukraine, and appeared close to a deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It remains to be seen whether the deal helps Ukraine in its relationship with the Trump administration. On the one hand, it will allow Mr. Trump to declare that he secured a big financial boon. But ceding revenue from natural resources to the United States could divert money now being used for the war effort, and saddle Ukraine with future debt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Another factor might work in Ukraine\u2019s favor, experts say: Mr. Trump\u2019s vanity. The American president has boasted that he can quickly end the war, but he cannot do so without Ukraine\u2019s consent. That gives Kyiv at least some leverage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWithout Ukraine\u2019s approval of a potential deal, Trump won\u2019t be able to be the great peacemaker he claims to be,\u201d Ms. Getmanchuk said. \u201cHe would appear as a president unable to deliver on his promise. He needs Zelensky to accomplish this peacekeeping mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ultimately, experts say it is up to Ukraine to decide whether to continue the fight. The key now is whether it can hold out long enough on the battlefield, potentially cut off from U.S. support, to avoid having to accept a deal with onerous terms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Ukrainian government has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/elpais.com\/internacional\/2024-12-11\/marchenko-ministro-de-finanzas-de-ucrania-disponemos-de-fondos-y-armas-suficientes-para-resistir-al-menos-hasta-mediados-de-2025.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said that it has enough funds<\/a>, weapons and ammunition to sustain its fight against Russia through the first half of this year. But structural issues in its army have weakened its defense, including a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/11\/world\/europe\/ukraine-soldier-draft.html\" title=\"\">shortage of soldiers for the front lines<\/a>, exhaustion after three years of war that has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/19\/world\/europe\/ukraine-troop-fatigue.html\" title=\"\">led some to desert<\/a>, and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/14\/world\/europe\/ukraine-russia-war-battlefield.html\" title=\"\">coordination gaps between brigades<\/a> that Russian forces routinely exploit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, military analysts say that Ukraine has some elements working in its favor. It has significantly ramped up its domestic weapons production, producing nearly all of the attack drones it deploys on the battlefield \u2014 the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/31\/magazine\/drones-weapons-ukraine-war.html\" title=\"\">primary means of targeting Russian troops today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukraine\u2019s defense industry now covers about 40 percent of the country\u2019s need in weapons, according to Solomiia Bobrovska, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament\u2019s defense and intelligence committee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nico Lange, a former German Defense Ministry official who is now a senior fellow at the Munich Security Conference, said, \u201cHolding the line and saying, \u2018Look, we will continue to defend ourselves,\u2019 is I think what strengthens Ukraine\u2019s position in this unfortunate situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Perhaps the most promising option is Ukraine\u2019s turn to Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Zelensky said last week that he had started talks with his European counterparts to have them fund Ukraine\u2019s war effort \u201cif the United States decides not to.\u201d Just in the past few days, he has spoken to dozens of European leaders by phone or in person during a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/world\/europe\/europe-ukraine-anniversary.html\" title=\"\">large summit held in Kyiv on Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">France and Britain have also taken the lead in discussions about <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/11\/world\/europe\/ukraine-russia-trump.html\" title=\"\">deploying European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine<\/a> as part of a postwar settlement to deter further Russian aggression. Following <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/us\/politics\/trump-macron-ukraine.html\" title=\"\">Mr. Macron\u2019s discussion of the idea with Mr. Trump<\/a> on Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain is expected to push the proposal during his visit to Washington this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, Mr. Starmer has acknowledged that deploying European troops would not be viable without what he called a \u201cU.S. backstop\u201d to deter Russia, potentially in the form of American air cover. Many in Ukraine also recall that Europe failed to meet its promise to deliver one million artillery shells by March of last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At a security forum in Kyiv last Friday, top representatives from the European Union, NATO and Canada, as well as David H. Petraeus, the retired U.S. general and former C.I.A. director, agreed that Ukraine\u2019s path forward must be multipronged: deepening ties with Europe, increasing domestic weapons production and, in the immediate term, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/24\/world\/europe\/ukraine-zelensky-trump.html\" title=\"\">repairing relations with Mr. Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But officials in Kyiv also do not rule out the possibility that the famously mercurial Mr. Trump could suddenly shift and back Ukraine, especially if negotiations with Russia stall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His flurry of statements in recent days, often delivered late in the day in Ukraine because of the time difference, has been such that Ms. Bobrovska said a new joke was now circulating in Kyiv\u2019s political circles: \u201cBetter to fall asleep early than to listen to Trump on Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/25\/world\/europe\/trump-ukraine-russia-war.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The antagonistic messaging President Trump has delivered to Ukraine since taking office has presented leaders in Kyiv with a brutal reckoning: that the United States can no longer be counted on as a supporter, and may even be an adversary, in the effort to end the war with Russia. In the past two weeks, Mr. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/23\/multimedia\/23ukraine-options-01-pjmg\/23ukraine-options-01-pjmg-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[137233,163575,1924,25882,9891,52,1734,1130,128437,34139,22303,8774],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246313,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246311\/revisions\/246313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}