Ukraine: What Trump does next is the key

Volodymyr Zelensky gave a careful and diplomatic reaction to Vladimir Putin's late -evening offer of direct discussions in Istanbul next Thursday.

The Ukrainian leader could have expected that he in Moscow did not oblige his opposite number for a 30-day ceasefire, as Kyiv and his western allies demand on Saturday.

Instead, Zelensky called it “a positive sign that the Russians finally think about ending the war”.

Zelensky added that Ukraine was expecting Russia to meet the proposed 30-day arms arrest from Monday.

It is difficult to see whether Zelensky Putin's offer of direct conversations really sees as a “positive sign”. This is just as much about optics as everything else.

Neither Putin nor Zelensky want to be seen by US President Donald Trump as the obstacle to peace.

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Trump's reaction was clearly optimistic. He used to write his truth on his social platform and once again indicated that this war was coming to an end. He wrote: “A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!”

Putin said he wanted to tackle what he calls “the basic causes of the conflict”.

In his view, this means that Ukraine is unacceptable ambition to be part of a prosperous, democratic Europe instead of returning to Moscow's orbit and becoming a clever satellite nation like Belarus.

He will also want a firm obligation that Ukraine will never join NATO.

On Saturday, Moscow demanded that the West have to stop moving Ukraine before the start of an armistice.

Of course, this would be so much less able to ward off Russia's gradual progress on the front – or, even worse, a new full offensive to take more land.

What Ukraine urgently needs from its allies is an uninterrupted flow of air defendants to ward off the constantly growing number of drones and rockets that are fired across the common border in Kyiv and other big cities.

Shortly after dawn on Sunday, we were awakened by an Air -Raid warning and sirens started when more Russian drones were started.

On May 9, the US message in Kyiv gave its citizens a warning that “there was a considerable risk of air strikes in the coming days”.

One of the biggest concerns is that the Kremlin can start another Oreshnik -hypersonic -Ballist rocket like its strength in November in a factory in Dnipro.

With its speed, which approaches the 10 -time sound speed, Russia boasts that this rocket is “unstoppable”.

Now the key question is what Trump does next – and that could work in both directions.

He was able to decide that his opposite number in Moscow simply connects him and finds one apology after the other so as not to agree to a ceasefire.

Or will he throw a diplomatic lifeline in view of his historical warm relationships with Putin and put pressure on Ukraine to sit down in Istanbul and hear Moscow demands, regardless of whether a ceasefire is coming on Monday?