President Donald Trump is signaling he’s close to giving up on broaching a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine — and simply walking away, an analyst wrote Monday.
The warning comes as multiple cracks appear in the relationship that Trump has repeatedly bragged he has with Russian President Vladimir Putin, wrote Matthew Chance, CNN’s Chief Global Affairs Correspondent.
His comments came after Trump wrote over the weekend, “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him.
But Chance wrote that Putin has remained exactly as he always has been.
What has changed is Trump’s certainty that he can bring peace to the region.
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“The real question is whether Trump has changed, or at least if his attitude toward Putin has started to shift amid what looks like an increasingly futile US effort to forge peace in Ukraine, something Trump bragged he could do – let’s not forget – in short order," he wrote, referencing the president's promise that he would end the war on his first day in office.
Chance pointed out it was the sixth time that Trump had publicly shown annoyance with the Russian leader. He called him “absolutely crazy” after renewed attacks on Ukraine in recent days — with the largest ever strikes on Ukraine coming this weekend.
He’s also expressed exasperation with Putin’s refusal to sign ceasefire deals.
“More likely, the latest upsurge in violence in Ukraine may further convince an already frustrated US president that he is simply unable to bring the warring parties together any time soon,” wrote Chance.
“And, amid all his anger and bluster about Putin, Trump may simply choose to walk away.”