Putin Al Salam Theater keeps Trump’s watch – and is waiting for Kyiv

In parallel with a brutal war along the 1000 km front, Russia and Ukraine are being imprisoned in a Titani diplomatic battle to persuade Donald Trump that the other is the real obstacle to peace.

So Vladimir Putin assumed a great danger during the past week, as they slowly negotiated the peace proposal, according to officials familiar with the discussions, and then refused to attend talks with Ukraine President Volodimir Zelinski in Turkey, which he himself started.

So far, the Russian leader’s refusal has not met other conditions with a few resistance – and it is certainly not enough to force concessions or change the course of his war.

The clearest sign of this came when it seemed that US President Donald Trump was unable to not present the Russian leader on Thursday and wondered simultaneously about the full goal of Russia’s Ukraine talks, saying: “Nothing will happen until Putin and meet.”

It was a gift to Putin, who has long sought a single meeting with a president who is determined to normalize relations between the United States and Russian. For the Ukrainians, their worst fears – that Trump will seek an agreement with Putin on their heads and sell Ukraine under the river.

“Putin is doing enough to persuade Trump that he is participating in this effort to find peace in Ukraine, while he is also as much as possible to ensure that he is not anywhere.” “And Trump falls for that.”

This doubt is shared by some of the closest American allies. “He was trying to lead the American president in the park’s path,” said Putin, German Defense Secretary Boris Pistorius. “I am sure that the American president cannot be happy with it,” he told reporters in Berlin.

Putin’s reluctance to participate in objective peace negotiations has become more clear in recent days, even for those in the Trump administration who have been tending to give him the benefit of doubt.

Last Thursday, senior Russian officials, Steve Witkeov, told Trump’s private envoy that Putin did not want to discuss the 22 -point peace plan that Witkev set with Ukrainian and European inputs.

These 22 points were discussed in the next day, on an invitation between Ukrainian and American officials, according to people familiar with the matter. Ukraine was represented in the invitation of the Chief of Staff Zellinski, Andrei Yermak, and Ukrainian Defense Secretary Rostum Yumrouf; The United States by Witkeov, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, who is currently the National Security Adviser, and General Keith Kelog,, Trump’s special envoy to Kiev.

The people said that Russia’s response led to Witkoff, who met Putin for four times since February, which led to temporary plans to meet the Russian leader this week. A person close to Witkoff said that no trip was planned.

In the days after this, the pace of diplomatic activity was picked up. European and Ukrainian leaders met to call for an unconditional ceasefire for 30 days in the war, and they warned of difficult new sanctions if he failed to comply-a request supported by the United States.

Putin rejected the request but returned with his counter-Russia-Ukraine’s direct conversations, which will be held on Thursday in Istanbul. Trump welcomed the idea and urged Zellinsky to participate. The Ukrainian leader moved to his request and challenged Putin to come to Türkiye himself when it could have been only the second meeting between them.

But the Russian leader refused and sent a low -level delegation instead, led by former Culture Minister Vladimir Midinski.

The meeting, which was held on Friday, ended less than two hours, without penetration. The two sides agreed to swap thousands of war prisoners, but they did not make any progress in the ceasefire.

European leaders expressed their frustration. French President Emmanuel Macron said, referring to new sanctions.

“People in Ukraine and around the world have paid the price of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine and through Europe, and now he must pay the price of avoiding peace,” said Sir Kerr Starmer Prime Minister in the United Kingdom.

Starmer, Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Mirz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, ended with a joint statement saying that Putin’s position is “unacceptable.”

The four leaders, along with Zelinski, also made a joint phone call to Trump. Starmer said that there is now a “high level of coordination” between the essence of four countries-the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland-and the American administration of President Trump “in Ukraine.

“It is just dripping, drip,” said a European foreign minister, referring to Europe’s messages to the Trump administration in the hope that the president will eventually turn to Russia.

But so far no one in the Trump administration, which has continued to express frustration on both sides in the conflict, has not met without Russia, and a hint that could go.

Rubio said on Thursday that Trump was “ready to adhere to this as long as it took it to achieve peace.” He said: “What we cannot do, however, is to continue to fly around the world and engage in meetings that will not be fruitful.”

A senior Ukrainian official described the situation as Putin and Zellinski, who are held in a “Blackjack” geopolitical game – with Trump as an agent.

The official said that Putin had a “strong but fraught with risks.” Ukraine is betting that if he draws another card, the Russian president may be able to “a bust”.

Additional reports by George Parker in Tirana