Putin persists, Trump dithers – and a just peace for Ukraine still seems a long way off | Olga Chyzh

<p>The US president could embrace the role of peacemaker, or become the patsy who restored Russia’s imperial standing</p><p>The past few weeks have seen a flurry of activity billed as progress in the Russia-Ukraine peace process. Yet for Ukrainians, the reality remains unchanged: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/28/russia-launches-kyiv-attack-ukraine-capital-deaths-injuries">airstrikes still thunder across their cities, homes still burn, lives are still lost</a>. Against this grim backdrop, the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, has seemed more than content to bask in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gj9er0x0zo">the literal red-carpet treatment</a> afforded by the president of the United States.</p><p>Donald Trump, who has anointed himself mediator of this war, has nearly exhausted the lexicon of contradiction. Some days he proclaims that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-un-election-a78ecb843af452b8dda1d52d137ca893">he</a><em><a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-un-election-a78ecb843af452b8dda1d52d137ca893"> </a></em><a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-un-election-a78ecb843af452b8dda1d52d137ca893">alone can end this war</a>. Then he insists that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-presidency-news-05-19-25">peace talks should be left to the two parties.</a> At times he boasts that Putin <a href="https://www.trumpstruth.org/statuses/31242">“respects” him</a>; at others, he castigates Putin <a href="https://www.trumpstruth.org/statuses/31242">for “going absolutely crazy”</a>. This month, Trump vacillated between putting US troops on the table and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/19/european-leaders-ukraine-r