Will Donald Trump bring the Russia-Ukraine War to an end soon soon after getting the warring sides Israel and Hamas sign ceasefire?
Will he push the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to reject the membership bid of Kyiv to placate former arch-enemy Russia?
Will the US President seek Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s help in convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the internecine war?
As PM Modi will meet the US President and the high-ranking officials of the two countries sit in the White House on Thursday to discuss bilateral relations, all eyes are set on what Trump says to the Indian PM.
Donald Trump Dials Vladimir Putin
Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin Wednesday and the two leaders talked for more than one and a half hours over the phone.
He put pressure on the Russian President to stop the war against Ukraine and assured him to take care of Moscow’s security concerns.
Earlier, Trump has said that it is not feasible to drive Russia out of the Ukrainian areas it has already captured.
After talking to Putin on the phone, he wrote in a post on the social media site Truth Social, “It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!”
He also wrote on the same social media platform that Vladimir Putin had “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately”.
Trump: Ukraine Unlikely To Return To Pre-2014 Borders
In what may be called a clear indication of the ultimate Ukrainian defeat, Trump told reporters at the White House that it was unlikely that Ukraine would return to its pre-2014 borders. However, he also said that “some of that land will come back”.
Trump also talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who confirmed it saying that he had spoken to Trump about a “lasting, reliable peace”.
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Zelensky also said that he would meet US Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a defence summit on Ukraine in Munich on Friday.
Will US Deny NATO Membership To Ukraine?
If media reports are to be believed, Donald Trump has also convinced Vladimir Putin that Ukraine would not be made a member of NATO.
He told reporters that he agreed with his Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on this subject. Attending a meeting of the 32-member defense bloc, he said on Wednesday that there was no likelihood of Ukraine joining NATO.
It was the expansion of the trans-Atlantic defence bloc that unnerved Moscow, which has been surrounded by the NATO member states from all sides.
Analysts believe, Moscow wanted to stop Ukraine becoming a member of the bloc and attacked it to put pressure on Kyiv.
After pro-Russia Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in 2014, Moscow invaded, captured and annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.
Later in attacked Ukraine in 2022. It has captured the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Mykolayiv, and Zaporizhzhya Oblasts so far.
On the other hand, Ukraine has captured the Russian city of Kursk.
Can India Help Stop Russia-Ukraine War?
Analysts believe Trump may ask India to use its old and traditional good relations with Russia to convince Putin to stop the war.
India has supported Ukrainian sovereignty without criticising Russia or holding it responsible for the war.
However, PM Modi told the Russian President that it is not the age of war.
