The tensions between the Trump administration and the Ukrainian government had intensified behind the scene during the past week before they completely exploded to public view on Wednesday.
Privately, Ukrainian officials were alarmed after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told him that his meetings with the high officials of the Trump administration could be canceled if he did not agree quickly with certain demands. They worried about the mixed, public and private messages, of Trump’s advisors of Senior about whether the possibility that Ukraine joins NATO would be on the table in the negotiations with Russia to end the war. And they were worried when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told them at a closed door that the United States can withdraw a significant number of their European troops.
From the perspective of President Donald Trump, Zelenskyy was showing resistance to what Trump sees how reasonable he asks a country that the United States has established to receive more than $ 75 billion in military aid. He found Zelenskyy without hurry to make some commitments that US and European officials have admitted for a long time in private would be required in a peace agreement. And Ukraine’s public complaints was enraged on being excluded from the conversations between the United States and Russia about ending the war after Zelenskyy met several times with some of Trump’s main advisors.
“There is frustration,” said a White House official, accusing Zelenskyy and some other European leaders to try to “denigrate” Trump’s peace efforts.
This article is based on interviews with more than a dozen US and European officials and other people with knowledge of private meetings and discussions between and within the Trump administration and the Ukrainian government. They all spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal conversations.
Trump lashed out on Tuesday, blaming Ukraine for the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade and asking for new elections in kyiv. After Zelenskyy replied that Trump is selling Russian “misinformation, Trump increased his rhetoric by calling Zelenskyy, the elected Ukrainian leader, a” dictator “who” has done a terrible job. “
Zelenskyy was chosen in 2019, and the elections scheduled for last year were suspended due to war.
The round trip increase has expressed concerns in the United States, even among some of Trump’s Republican allies.
Senator Thom Tillis, Rn.C., told NBC News the War of Words between Trump and Zelenskyy “feeds from Putin’s hand.”
Zelenskyy approach
After Trump won the November elections, the republican supporters of Ukraine in Congress and the lobbyists hired by kyiv in Washington advise Zelenskyy to show that his government was ready to commit to peace conversations and try to convince Trump of Trump that Russia was the main obstacle to any settlement, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
“The key was to convince Trump that Ukraine was not the problem,” said one of those people.
Putin has had little interest in negotiating a peace agreement, and the intelligence of the United States and the allies indicates that their views have not changed and that it finally wants to control all Ukraine. But the Zelenskyy government acknowledged that Trump was skeptical of his cause and that he had a history of avoiding criticism of Russia, two of the people with knowledge of the matter said.
Zelenskyy sought to show that his government was flexible. With NATO membership, a distant perspective, although the United States had not declared that publicly, Zelenskyy, suggested, for example, that European countries could deploy troops in Ukraine as a guarantee of security in a postwar agreement.
His approach seemed to be working.
Trump delivered a hard rhetoric over Russia, threatening Moscow with tariffs, sanctions and taxes on the sale of Russian goods to the United States and other countries if Putin did not negotiate the end of the war. He also took advantage of Lieutenant withdrawn from the army Keith Kellogg, who has sympathized with kyiv, as his envoy of Ukraine.
Then, last week, everything changed.
Putin released an American teacher, Marc Fogel, who was imprisoned in Russia. The measure allowed Trump to move forward with a promise he did during the campaign. Steve Witkoff, his envoy to the Middle East, met with Putin for three hours while he was in Moscow to recover Fogel, Trump said.
The next day, on February 12, Trump spoke with Putin, announcing after the two countries would launch negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Then Trump spoke with Zelenskyy.
By announcing his team that he would negotiate with the Russians, Trump left Kellogg, who was bitten, according to an American official familiar with his response. Kellogg celebrates meetings in kyiv, but it was not among US officials who met with the Russians in Saudi Arabia this week.
Tensions in Munich
While US and European officials prepared to meet in Brussels and Munich last week, in meetings that would coincide with Trump announced their approach with Putin, some Trump administration officials tried to prevent the relationship between Washington and kyiv from fracturing.
Before Hegseth’s speech in Brussels on February 12, some state department officials informed their team that you should not publicly say that Ukraine will not win membership in NATO as part of a peace agreement with Russia, according to four officials of the Administration and Congress.
Hegesh’s speech did not follow that advice. He turned away from an earlier prepared in the day to deliver a more heartless message about Ukraine’s perspectives for NATO membership that originally written: “The United States does not believe that NATO’s membership for Ukraine is a realistic result From a negotiated agreement, “he said.
Their prepared comments had said security guarantees for Ukraine “should not be provided through NATO membership,” according to three US officials familiar with them.
Hegseth, who has said that his comments on the possible Ukraine NATO membership were made in coordination with the rest of Trump’s national security team, mitigated his comments the next day. He insisted on “Everything is on the table” in the negotiations. And although Trump told journalists on Thursday that he had not asked Hegseth to go back his comments, he also pointed out that Hegseth’s tone had become “a bit softer.”
At the same time, Trump said he thought that the initial comments of Hegseth “were quite precise”, further feeding the confusion and criticisms that the United States was giving up a key Russian demand before negotiations began.
In private, Hegesh surprised the Ukrainians when he told them at a meeting with Zelenskyy that the Trump administration is considering reducing many US forces in Europe, since the United States focuses more on the Asia region and the Pacific and its border with Mexico, Mexico, According to five United States. officials and another person familiar with the meeting.
“His report is 100% false,” wrote Pentagon Press Secret The reduction of US troops in Europe.
“At no time, Secretary Hegseth advised the administration officials to avoid putting doubts about the NATO membership: the secretary’s comments were coordinated with the upper members of the president’s national security team, and supported the message he delivered from Upstairs, full stop. In addition, the president himself reinforced the comments of Secretary Hegseth about the NATO membership shortly after in his own public comments in the Oval office, “Ullyot wrote.
Ullyot also said that Hegesh “did not make an ad or on the timeline for a reduction of US troops in Europe.”
But Hegesh and Vice President JD Vance delivered a constant message during their trips last week, which Europe must assume more responsibility for its own defense, since the Trump administration prioritizes the southern border of the United States and the Indo-Pacific.
A security guarantee that the United States is considering as part of a peace agreement is to automatically grant the Ukraine NATO membership if Russia violates the agreement, four US officials said.
Such provision would be aimed at addressing a key concern for Ukraine and its allies, which Russia would regroup and invade the country again, the four officials said.
Other parts of the Brussels speech of Hegseth, who spoke with Ukraine Minister of Defense, Rustem Uumerov, just three seats away, also put kyiv nervous. He said that it is “an unrealistic objective” that Ukraine returns to its borders before Russia invaded for the first time in 2014 and annexes Crimea, a statement that was considered a concession to Russia.
Hegesh’s speech day and Trump’s phone calls with Putin and Zelenskyy, Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, was in kyiv for a meeting with Zelenskyy that did not go well for any of the parties.
Besent introduced Zelenskyy a document that would give the United States half of the rare land minerals of Ukraine, which are fundamental to make a variety of technologies. Zelenskyy was surprised by Besent’s approach.
When Zelenskyy said he needed time to study the proposal, Besent told him that he had an hour to sign or risk having his next meetings with Vance and Secretary of State Frame . .
The Ukrainians saw those meetings, scheduled to happen later that week outside a security conference in Munich, as a criticism of understanding Trump’s strategy for peace conversations.
Besent explained to Zelenskyy that an agreement with the Trump administration on rare land minerals is a critical component to build a strategic association between the United States and Ukraine, which would finally contribute to the safety guarantees for kyiv after a negotiated purpose in The war.
The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comments.
Zelenskyy did not sign the document. In Munich, Ukrainian officials were initially told Zelenskyy meetings with Vance and Rubio, according to US and European officials and another person reported on discussions. They were delayed but finally took place.
The rare earth mineral agreement remains in limbo.
After initially said that the United States and Ukraine are still talking about the proposal, Zelenskyy said he would not agree with the current version because he would not protect his country enough.
Besent said Tuesday in an interview with Fox News that he believes that Zelenskyy will finally sign an agreement with the United States on the rare land minerals of Ukraine, saying that he would deter the future Russian aggression after the end of the war.
The White House official said that “Besent’s offer is about recognizing that Ukraine’s ability to defend itself was greatly contributed by US taxpayers.”
“That offer is about recovering some of that,” said the official, “and recognizing that when there is peace, Ukraine has the potential to become a stronger economic position, through an association with the United States”
