Donald Trump and his Secretary of Defence, former Fox News television presenter Pete Hegseth, have offered Vladimir Putin exactly what he wants when it comes to Ukraine: no Ukrainian membership of Nato, no American boots on the ground, and Russia gets to keep all the Ukrainian land it has grabbed so far.
Under these terms, which Trump suggested had been discussed with Putin in a phone call on 12 February, there may even be a deal to end the war. Ukraine will be disinclined to accept it, since there is nothing on the table for Kyiv, but then Trump also suggested this was to be a deal hammered out between Russians and Americans. As feared by many of Kyiv’s Western allies, it now looks like Ukrainians may be left out of negotiations where its fate is to be decided, or perhaps compromised. A new Munich, two big leaders wanting to have peace and preparing to make a deal over the heads of a faraway country.
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