Zelenskyy called Trump’s bluff by agreeing to a ceasefire, shifting the dynamics and putting the pressure on Putin, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joel Rubin says.
#Russia #Ukraine
#Russia #Ukraine
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00:00Does it look to you like this U.S. delegation is going to be coming back to Washington pretty
00:05much empty-handed?
00:06Well, it's wonderful to be with you and with your viewers.
00:10And the test that President Trump put forward to Vladimir Putin, it looks like we're getting
00:16some results.
00:18And Vladimir Putin might very well be failing this test.
00:22What's happening now is a very interesting twist in the dynamics of the diplomacy on
00:27Ukraine and Russia, where President Trump clearly was pressuring Ukraine for a number
00:32of weeks, months, one could argue years, but in the recent weeks in particular.
00:37And President Zelensky of Ukraine called his bluff and said, I will agree to a ceasefire.
00:46And now, of course, the message from President Trump being carried by his envoy, Steve Whitkoff,
00:52is that Vladimir Putin needs to agree to that as well.
00:56And by being rejected, which is what it appears, that is going to put a very difficult set
01:02of discussions going forward into the White House about how do they respond.
01:07Do they call out Vladimir Putin?
01:09That's something they haven't done before.
01:11Will they punish with more sanctions?
01:13Very unclear.
01:14So it's really a new moment in these diplomatic negotiations.