Trump officials shift blame for failed Ukraine peace talks on unwitting party: report

Amid the stalled peace talks kicked off by President Donald Trump to end the Russo-Ukraine War, a number of Trump officials are now casting blame elsewhere in a move that has left some of America’s allies “puzzled,” Axios reported Saturday.

"The Europeans don't get to prolong this war and backdoor unreasonable expectations, while also expecting America to bear the cost," said a top Trump official, speaking with Axios on the condition of anonymity. "If Europe wants to escalate this war, that will be up to them. But they will be hopelessly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory."

The stalled progress on ending the war comes after Trump’s high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this month in Alaska, which was followed shortly thereafter with his meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A third meeting was announced by Trump – set to be between Putin and Zelenskyy – but ultimately never materialized, with tensions rising among the two nations as the war wages on.

Now, Trump officials appear to be trying to get ahead of the peace talks’ failures by shifting blame to European nations, with some going as far as to alleged European leaders want the war to continue.

"Getting to a deal is an art of the possible," the Trump official said. "But some of the Europeans continue to operate in a fairy-tale land that ignores the fact it takes two to tango."

Progress toward ending the war has been so unsuccessful that one insider, described by Axios as a “senior White House official,” said that Trump is heavily weighing the idea of stepping back from peace talks all together, at least until either Russia or Ukraine show an openness to making major concessions.

“We are going to sit back and watch,” the senior White House official told Axios. “Let them fight it out for a while and see what happens.”

Having been waged since 2014, and escalated in 2022 with Russia’s invasion, the Russo-Ukraine War has seen more than one million casualties as of June.