huffingtonpost - 7 days ago

President Donald Trump, right, and Russia s President Vladimir Putin arrive for a joint press conference at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)A BBC Russia expert has delivered a brutal reality check to Donald Trump after his planned peace talks with Vladimir Putin were dramatically scrapped.Steve Rosenberg, the corporation’s highly-respected Moscow editor, said the Russian president “is not prepared to do what Donald Trump says”.The US president had claimed he would meet with Putin in Budapest in the next fortnight in an attempt to thrash out a deal to end the war in Ukraine.However, the planned summit was called off on Tuesday night after Moscow refused to agree to America’s ceasefire proposals.Trump has said he wants both sides to agree to end the war at the current battle lines, but that is not acceptable to Putin, who wants to control the whole of Ukraine’s Donbas region.On Radio 4′s Today programme on Wednesday, Rosenberg said the latest developments were “a reminder that just because Donald Trump says something is going to happen, it doesn’t mean it will happen”.“Just because President Trump said he would be meeting Vladimir Putin in Budapest in a couple of weeks time, there was no guarantee that that summit would take place,” he said.The reporter added: “As far as the Kremlin is concerned, the priority here is to get control of the Donbas. Vladimir Putin is not prepared to do what Donald Trump says and freeze the battle lines.“The Donbas is vital for the Kremlin, not only because it’s Ukraine’s industrial heartland, it’s strategically important. The land there that is still under Ukrainian control is heavily fortified, and if Russia seizes it or if Russia is handed control of it, Ukraine’s fear would be that ... the Donbas would be a springboard for a future new offensive.“If after more than three-and-a-half years of this war, and the huge casualties that Russia has suffered, my sense is the Kremlin believes it has at the very least to end up controlling the Donbas in its entirety so it can present the outcome of the war to the Russian public as a victory.”Related... He s Been Played By Putin Again : Top Diplomat Mocks Trump After Ukraine Peace Talks CollapseTrump Told Zelenskyy To Hand Over Ukraine Territory Or Be Destroyed By RussiaKeir Starmer Condemns Tyrant Putin In Wake Of Trump s Latest Zelenskyy Bust-Up

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