Moscow - Washington: Europe and the Arabs
Russian drones bombed Ukraine last night, targeting Odessa, as well as Bucha, Irpin, and Hostomel outside Kyiv, in the run-up to Donald Trump's August 8 deadline for a ceasefire. But by midnight Washington time, reports of new attacks had died down, as Vladimir Putin appeared to heed Trump's threat to impose severe sanctions on Russia and countries that continue to deal with it. All eyes are now on the Kremlin, to see whether this waiver will hold. According to a report in Playbook, the European edition of Politico magazine in Brussels, which added under the headline: "It's up to him."
Earlier Thursday, as Russia continued to pound Ukraine, reporters asked Trump if he planned to follow through on his threat to impose sanctions on Putin, who has been slowing down attempts to reach a peace agreement. Trump said, "It's up to him. We'll see what he says," before adding that he was "very disappointed" with the Russian president. One reason for this disappointment: Trump told European leaders on Wednesday that he plans to meet with Putin in the coming days, after which he will also hold a trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy. But while Zelenskyy said he was okay with it, Putin rejected the idea in comments to state media on Thursday, using his well-worn stalling tactic of saying he agreed to the meeting in principle—but that “certain conditions” must first be met.
A White House press secretary had earlier on Thursday stated that a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting was a precondition for a meeting with Trump, but the president himself later walked back those comments.
In Europe: Zelenskyy held a series of calls on Thursday with his European backers, speaking with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, among others. He also spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, thanking her for her “clear understanding of the need to engage a united Europe in all processes related to Ukraine,” according to his statement. The EU is missing out: But all the niceties cannot hide the fact that the EU has been marginalized in these negotiations, as Trump excluded von der Leyen from his briefings on Wednesday and forced her to obtain readings from those who were selected.
Is the EU disappointed? In a midday briefing on Thursday, Commission spokeswoman Anita Heber attempted to reframe Trump's snub, asserting that there was "no request" for the EU to participate in the Trump-Zelenskyy-Putin trilogy, "so of course there is no disappointment about something that was not requested and something that was not specified." Well.
Speaking of Trump the peacemaker: Trump announced on Truth Social last night that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan would meet at the White House later today for a "peace signing ceremony." The peace agreement would end nearly four decades of conflict between the two countries, including Azerbaijan's seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023.