Update(0937ET): Press pool reporters were left frustrated Tuesday afternoon when during a State Department briefing the Trump admin spokesperson refused to comment on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s announcement that the United States and European allies had lifted “absolutely” all restrictions on the range of arms sent to Ukraine.
State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said when pressed by reporters, “I’m not going to discuss that. I’m not going to confirm that.” The Kremlin has responded by saying the decision was potentially dangerous and runs counter to attempts at a settlement. Still, there’s been no confirmation from the governments named by Merz, especially the US. Here is how Russia’s RT presented the televised exchange:
German chancellor says US, UK and EU all gave Kiev permission to fire longer-range missiles at Russia Trump’s government sounding more and more like Biden’s…
And after President Trump threatened “really bad” things on Russia, expressing his worry that Putin has gone “crazy” – one prominent conservative pundit and Trump supporter had this to say:
Back in December, then president-elect Trump had rightly blasted Biden’s policy of constant escalation with Moscow, and specifically called out plans for increasing the range of missile systems shipped to Kiev:
Trump called the decision made by Biden last month “stupid.” He also expressed anger that his incoming administration was not consulted before Biden made the move. With the loosening of the restrictions, Biden gave Ukraine long-sought permission to use the Army Tactical Missile System provided by the U.S. to strike Russian positions hundreds miles from its border.
“I don’t think that should have been allowed, not when there’s a possibility — certainly not just weeks before I take over,” Trump said during at a wide-ranging news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort. “Why would they do that without asking me what I thought? I wouldn’t have had him do that. I think it was a big mistake.”
Amid a painstakingly slow peace process, will Trump just give up and let the hawks take over? To review…
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Germany is very openly stepping up its support to Ukraine, following a weekend of serious escalation in airstrikes on Kiev by Russia, which says this has been retaliation for hundreds of drones on its territory.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will travel to visit Berlin on Wednesday in his first time there since Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office earlier this month. It was only on Monday that Merz announced that Germany, France, the UK and US have lifted prior restrictions on how far the weapons they supply to Ukraine can reach. But Washington has not given public confirmation of this.
Just ahead of hosting Zelensky, Merz has warned that the Western allies must settle in for a long war yet to come, at a moment US-backed peace efforts appear to be faltering. Leading European hawks have criticized President Trump’s push for peace all along.
“Wars typically end because of economic or military exhaustion on one side or on both sides and in this war we are obviously still far from reaching that [situation],” Merz said at a joint press conference with Finish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Turku, Finland
“So we may have to prepare for a longer duration,” Merz added. He articulated his view that Russia’s Putin is just using ceasefire talks to string the West along while he intensifies strikes against Ukraine.
He said this is consistent with Putin viewing peace talks with Ukraine as a “sign of weakness”. The German leader was cited in European media as saying, “Putin obviously sees offers of talks as a sign of weakness,”
“After the last three weeks, no one can seriously accuse us of not having exhausted all available diplomatic means,” Merz continued. Merz then said as follows:
Short of “raising the white flag,” Merz said, Ukraine’s backers had “done everything” they could.
“If even an offer to meet at the Vatican does not get [Putin’s] approval, then we must be prepared for this war to last longer than we all wish or can imagine,” Merz warned.
But Russia’s foreign ministry had simply explained that it did not consider the Vatican to in fact be ‘neutral’ ground, and strongly suggested talks be hosted elsewhere.
Some independent analysts (echoing some statements of Trump) have pointed to Zelensky ‘sabotaging’ the talks at every turn by his repeat firm declarations that Ukraine will never make territorial concessions, even when it comes to the status of Crimea.
For example, the below op-ed snippet says that Western media has been intentionally misleading the public, in order to present the initial Istanbul talks as an utter ‘failure’. It begins:
Western leaders and Western media have given the first round of talks a failing grade. They have dismissed it for three reasons. They claim that Putin first suggested direct negotiations and then did not show. They claim that he sent an insultingly low-level delegation. And they claim that nothing was accomplished.
All three of these claims are false.
Putin did suggest direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, but he did not say that those talks would take place at the leadership level. Putin said, “We are proposing that Kiev resume direct negotiations without any preconditions… We offer the Kiev authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul.” Putin referred to the Kiev authorities and never to the two presidents.
It was unlikely that Russia would resume talks for the first time at the presidential level. Customarily, before presidents meet, a great deal of preparation and negotiation takes place at lower levels. Then, typically, the foreign ministers would meet to iron out most of the details prior to a presidential meeting.
Zelensky has also been insisting on a 30-day ceasefire before agreeing to engage in top-level talks with Moscow. But Russia has repeatedly made clear there is no reason for a track which would only result in Ukrainian forces re-arming and bolstering their positions during a short-term truce interim.
Moscow’s position is that this would in the end only prolong the war and not offer permanent solutions. Putin has rejected short-term ceasefires as a viable path forward. He has all along demanded that the West show it is serious about peace by halting the constant arms transfers to Ukraine’s military.