On Monday, 20 January 2025, Donald Trump will don the mantle of the President of theUS.And on that day, the 'bromance' between Trump and Putin will re-emerge.
As Palki Sharma reports,
"US
President-elect Donald Trump has announced that plans are underway for a
meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. With Trump’s return to
the White House on January 20, some anticipate a diplomatic resolution
to end to the Russia-Ukraine war, which began in 2022, while others in
Kyiv fear that a swift peace deal could come at a high cost for
Ukraine." (Firstpost:16 January 2025) (my emphasis)
Palki Sharma (left) raises the most critical question viz.,
"Russia claims to have launched a missile attack on Donetsk. For Trump’s upcoming meeting with Putin, will Ukrainian President Zelensky receive an invite?" (ibid Palki Sharma)
And in anticipation of this new 'bromance' between Putin and Trump, Sarah Rainsford reports that,
Meanwhile, as reported by Andrey Sychev,
"To be honest, it hurts me a lot," she said without mentioning the chancellor's name in an interview with Politico released on Friday, adding that for some politicians gaining a few votes was more important than securing Europe's peace and freedom." (Reuters: 17 January 2025) (my emphasis)
Similarly, as reported by DPA International on Yahoo News,
"German opposition lawmakers on Thursday accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) of dirty campaign tactics over his demand for additional borrowing to finance an aid package for Ukraine worth €3 billion ($3.1 billion).
...
For Klein, Scholz is "carrying out election campaign manoeuvres on the backs of the Ukrainians."
The criticism was echoed by Johann Wadephul from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, who said "Scholz's new dodge on the issue of further aid for hard-pressed Ukraine is a real low point in the current election campaign." " (DPA International on Yahoo News: 16 January 2025) (my emphasis)
"Kremlin officials are cautiously welcoming the return of Donald Trump and building relations with his administration, while aiming to avoid reviving “Russiagate” scandals that dogged Trump’s first term, and tempering expectations about his policies on Ukraine.
The Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov (right), 
praised the president-elect – who takes office on 20 January – for raising Nato expansion as a factor in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
...
Moscow’s stated conditions before potential talks include that Russia must retain four regions of Ukraine its forces annexed in 2022, and that Ukraine must never join Nato – both terms rejected by Kyiv and its allies, although Trump and his team have expressed greater openness." (The i Paper on MSN: 16 January 2025) (my emphasis)
No doubt Putin is cracking open the champagne to toast Trump being inaugurated as US president on Monday.
Everything now hinges on how the EU will react to ANY Trump-Putin meeting about the war in Ukraine that EXCLUDES Zelensky.
UK Prime Minister Sharmer has already pledged to put Ukraine in the "strongest possible position" regarding ANY negotiations about ending Putin's war in Ukraine.
Whither now the EU??
The spectre of Putin's war-shadow readies itself to engulf Europe.
(to be continued)
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