After the American delegation sent by President Trump met some 5 hours with President Putin and his team in Moscow Tuesday night, but with no significant progress made (and with some observers declaring it a ‘failure’), some European officials are trying to have an ‘I told you so’ moment.
Ukrainian and European officials on Wednesday have alleged Putin is faking a desire to achieve peace, and is intentionally wasting Washington’s time while prolonging the war and intensifying strikes on the battlefield.
For example, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha declared immediately after the Moscow discussions that Putin should “stop wasting the world’s time.” The Zelensky government, it should be noted, has also been quietly frustrated with the White House for largely sidelining its long-running objection to territorial concessions. But the US plan is truly “new” in that it offers Russia de facto control of land in the Donbass and Crimea.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper voiced similar criticism, saying Putin “should end the bluster and the bloodshed and be ready to come to the table and to support a just and lasting peace.”
Baltic and northern European states have continued in their rhetoric challenging the Kremlin, with Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna responding, “What we see is that Putin has not changed any course. He’s pushing more aggressively on the battlefield.” The top diplomat said, “It’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t want to have any kind of peace.”
And Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said similarly, “So far we haven’t seen any concessions from the side of the aggressor, which is Russia, and I think the best confidence-building measure would be to start with a full ceasefire.”
While the Kremlin has called the Tuesday Moscow talks “constructive” – it conceded that little actual progress was made toward a deal, given Russia is demanding nothing less than full legal and international recognition of the territories under its control.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte meanwhile is calling on allies to ensure Ukraine is in its strongest possible position as negotiations proceed. Of course this involves flooding Kiev with more money and weapons. “The peace talks are ongoing. That’s good,” Rutte said.
“But at the same time, we have to make sure that whilst they take place and we are not sure when they will end, that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going, to fight back against the Russians. But also in the strongest possible position when peace talks really get to a point where they sit at the table,” he added.
More allegations of feigning interest in a peace process out of Western pundits:
Putin Meets With Witkoff and Kushner for Nearly Five Hours and the two sides did not reach any specific compromises, an aide to President Vladimir V. Putin said, as the United States pushes a plan to end the war in Ukraine.
Let me translate for you what this means. There was… https://t.co/0z7KAlRF5t
— Sir William Browder KCMG (@Billbrowder) December 3, 2025
Meanwhile mutual strikes on energy infrastructure continues to escalate. President Putin has also warned his military is readying to expand strikes on Ukrainian ports, in retaliation for a spate of drone attacks on tankers transporting Russian oil to global markets.
Loading recommendations…
