Trump vowed to end Ukraine bloodshed in 24 hours – 100 days on, is puppet master Putin calling all the shots?

The Irish Sun

26-04-2025

FIRST it was 24 hours. Then it was a few weeks. 100 days on, Trump is finally calling time on negotiations - peace or not.
The US President has slapped Ukraine and Russia with
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A Ukrainian soldier drives an anti-aircraft machine gun during an air raid alarm
Credit: EPA
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A Ukrainian family picks their way through debris and machinery in the reclaimed town of Bucha
Credit: EPA
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A woman injured by a Russian missile weeps at the site of her destroyed house
Credit: Reuters
But experts say this was Putin's plan all along and he's
Ukraine has far more at stake if the Americans
But still Trump publicly
Former intelligence officer Philip Ingram told The Sun: "Putin is a master at playing things.
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"He's sitting back behind his big oak desk in his office in Moscow with a very large glass of Russian vodka over ice."
The US has drawn up a
In his haste to get a deal, Trump appears to be determined to force Zelensky to bend to his will -
GLAD VLAD
Ingram said the proposed peace plan "is giving Putin physical ownership of Crimea" and "potentially all" the areas of the Donbas region he took by force.
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Dr Stephen Hall, political scientist at the University of Bath, said the proposal "would reward the Kremlin for what it's done over the past three years".
Alan Mendoza, director of the Henry Jackson society, warned: "It's clearly loaded against Ukraine."
Life in Ukraine under Putin-Trump carve-up- Families wrenched apart and threat of execution in echo of post-WW2 Germany
Meanwhile, Russia has hardly had to give an inch.
Mendoza said: "All Putin has had to do is sit there and smile at Steve Witkoff."
Hall pointed out that even if Zelensky wanted to release Crimea, he legally could without a referendum, which is impossible during the war.
"So Zelensky is in a catch-22," he said.
The US reportedly offered up Crimea in exchange for Russia - saying it would freeze the front lines where they are now and stop grabbing land.
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Trump has made it his mission to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine - but has so far failed
Credit: Splash
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Putin claims to want peace but many say he has not interest in stopping the war
Credit: EPA
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Russian troops march for their Victory Day military parade
Credit: AP
Ingram said: "Putin would be happy for the frontlines to be stabilised there - whether a full-time peace agreement or just a ceasefire.
"It would give him a chance to rebuild his forces up again and take another salami slice off Ukraine, and another."
At the moment, Putin is getting "almost everything he wants at a very limited cost", Mendoza added.
"That doesn't strike to me as a deal. It
strikes
to me as a surrender," he said.
There are reports that the American offer includes lifting Russian sanctions - "not an accident", according to Mendoza, because Putin "knows the wheels are coming off".
PLAYED LIKE A FIDDLE
While it's true Trump is unpredictable, Putin has found a way to lead him by the nose, according to Ingram, by whispering in his ear.
Ingram said: "He's playing Donald Trump and saying things Trump wants to hear. It's all about giving partial truths and spinning it in a way that's preferential to what you're doing."
Time and again, Putin has vowed he's serious about peace while applying the brakes - usually claiming some issue needs slowly ironing out.
Very few people believe he is actually seeking peace.
But Trump has appeared to give him the benefit of the doubt - until now.
He hit out at Putin in a fiery rant
on
, accusing the tyrant of "stringing him along".
Trump said:
He said: "There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days.
"It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!"
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Trump belittled and scolded Zelensky during his trip to the White House
Credit: The Mega Agency
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Ukrainian soldiers walking to their positions in the Donetsk region
Credit: EPA
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Ukraine's 'Siberian Battalion' on a training mission
Credit: EPA
It comes after
Hall said the continued bloodbath "undermines yet again Trump's assertion that Russia wants peace".
Mendoza is "puzzled" that Putin has pulled the wool over Trump's eyes so easily.
He asked: "President Trump is a great deal maker. Where's the deal here?"
Browder says the Trump-Putin dynamic remains mysterious - with the US president lurching from hot to cold.
TRUMP IN A RUSH
A possible reason for Trump's trip down the garden path is that he's in too much of a rush to realise - or, perhaps, care.
He has always made clear he wants to be a president that can end conflicts quickly.
And Trump is widely thought to be after the Nobel peace prize - envious of the recognition his predecessor Barack Obama received in 2009.
He famously boasted throughout 2024's election campaign that he would end the war in Ukraine in "24 hours".
Hall said Ukraine has suffered from this deadline-drive approach.
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A ballistic missile explodes over Kyiv during a Russian drone strike
Credit: Reuters
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A boy weeps for his friends, 17-year-old Danylo Khudia, killed in a Russian missile attack
Credit: Reuters
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Rescuers pull victims from the rubble after a missile strike on a residential building in Kyiv this month
Credit: Getty
He said Trump "has this idea that he has to achieve peace in 100 days" - which was always going to favour Russia.
And the "easiest way for Trump to his goal is to coerce Ukraine into a corner".
But Trump could "walk away quite happily" when he's had enough - meaning Ukraine's position is perilous, Mendoza said.
WHAT NOW?
If Trump is to be taken at his word, the US is poised drop everything and let Ukraine go it alone.
But the White House said his talks with Zelensky before the Pope's funeral were "very productive" - offering a glimmer of hope that peace could be on track.
But for as long as Trump is still at the table, Zelensky will keep trying to find a deal.
Hall said: "The Ukrainians are trying to work out what they can bring to the table.
"Europeans seem to be procrastinating in terms of whether they actually support Ukraine or not.
"I think the Ukrainians will propose yet again that yes, they want peace, but they want the 30 day ceasefire first."
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Grieving Kyiv residents at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian ballistic missile
Credit: AP
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Mendoza said all Putin has had to do is 'smile at Steve Witkoff'
Credit: Reuters
However, Hall said Ukraine will never willingly give up Crimea - and Zelensky has already made clear that is not an option.
Ingram is cautiously optimistic that Ukraine would fare alright if the US did pull the plug.
He said: "Zelensky is in a stronger position - his forces have held the Russians back for the last three years.
"Russians are making small advances on the frontline, Ukraine are making small advances. Ukrainian military support from Europe is going to increase dramatically."
"By the end of this year, Russia will have almost run out of armoured vehicles it's been refurbishing and sending back to the frontline."
Mendoza agreed, adding: "Putin would like to think he's winning on the
battlefield
[...] but he's losing so many they'll soon have to start recruiting the middle classes."