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Dmytro Kuleba, former Ukrainian foreign minister: 'Putin stands to gain more from a ceasefire than we do'

Dmytro Kuleba, former Ukrainian foreign minister: 'Putin stands to gain more from a ceasefire than we do'

LeMonde13 hours ago
A career diplomat, Dmytro Kuleba, 44, served as Ukraine's foreign minister from March 2020 to September 2024. He played a central role in rallying international support for Kyiv after Russia's invasion in February 2022. Since leaving office, he has turned to academia and, in January 2025, became the first Ukrainian associate professor at Sciences Po (France's prestigious political science university). In his view, Donald Trump has come to realize that he cannot impose a deal that Europe and Ukraine would consider unacceptable.
Did the Alaska summit yield any positive outcomes, or is it a failure from the Ukrainian perspective?
Symbolically, it is a failure, because a long-held dream of President [Vladimir] Putin has come true: to sit down with President [Donald] Trump to solve other countries' problems. The second failure is because Putin essentially told Trump, "Donald, we have reached an understanding – not a deal, but an understanding. Now go to Ukraine and Europe and convince them to accept this understanding." In this way, Putin has turned Trump against Europe and against Ukraine.
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