Ukraine blasts Trump for "stab in the back"
Ukrainian officials and civil society representatives have harshly criticized the U.S. President Donald Trump for failing to take real action to sanction Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
This move came after Putin rejected a ceasefire proposal at their meeting in Anchorage, which went against Trump’s previous statements. The story was first reported by the Financial Times and cited by The Moscow Times.
Following the discussions in Alaska, Trump announced he would not push for an immediate armistice but instead sought a final peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine. Putin, however, demanded the cession of the entire Donbas region, recognition of Crimea, and a guarantee that Ukraine would never join NATO as a price for the deal.
“This is a stab in the back,” said a senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, referring to the American leader’s change in position.
“He (Trump) just wants a quick deal,” commented another representative of the Kyiv authorities. Oleksandr Merezhko, Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), accused Trump of allying with Putin, suggesting the two might try to force Ukraine into a peace treaty that would essentially be a capitulation. Merezhko described the results of the Anchorage summit as “horrific.”
“The entire idea of the Alaska summit — as explained to us by Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — was to present Putin with a demand for an immediate ceasefire. And, in the event of a refusal, he was to face serious consequences,” Merezhko recalled. He added that Putin rejected the armistice and instead proposed a peace treaty with a list of conditions. “And we see no reaction from Trump, much less any serious consequences,” the MP concluded.
Member of Parliament Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, warned that ceding territories to Putin would not guarantee Ukraine’s security. On the contrary, she stated it would allow Russia to regroup its forces and attack again. “Accepting such conditions would only fuel Putin’s ambitions,” she emphasized.
The Financial Times notes that any territorial concession made to Moscow would raise questions in Ukrainian society regarding the state’s sovereignty.
Furthermore, Kyiv authorities fear that a withdrawal from some fortified cities in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region would amount to giving Russia a bridgehead for future offensives.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
