Ukraine- the situation is VERY serious

westendgirl

What is the reaction in America to this latest heavy-handed
manoeuvre. Has anyone seen any comments. ?

Not a lot so far. Democrat Adam Schiff

"Today, President Trump called our enemy, Russia, before calling our ally, Ukraine.

Meanwhile, his Secretary of Defense, ruled out a future for Ukraine in NATO and a restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty over its own lands'

Schiff expressed concerns the US could pull out altogether.

Peace in our time.

The words of Neville Chamberlain in 1938.
And we all know what happened next.
I’m truly worried about the future.

CNN reports Trump on Monday as saying

"Ukraine ‘may be Russian someday,’ Trump says ahead of Vance-Zelensky meeting". But its part of the usual Trump threats and obfuscation

"“They (Ukraine) may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday,” Trump said.

He stressed that he also wanted to see a return on investment with US aid for Ukraine, again floating the idea of a trade for Kyiv’s rare earth minerals"

edition.cnn.com/2025/02/11/europe/ukraine-russia-trump-zelensky-intl/index.html

Putin took Ukraine’s and Europe’s lack of action when he invaded and subsequently annexed Crimea as a green light to invade Ukraine.

He thought he would be in Kyiv in a matter of months if not weeks.

Europe has stood firm, Putin is now relying on North Korean conscripts, time is right for negotiations.

Thankfully all this is far above my pay grade.

NATO are meeting this morning - UK position outlined before NATO early this morning by John Healey defence Secretary (BBC live feed)

"Responding to Donald Trump's comments on the Ukraine war yesterday, he says Nato's job is to "put Ukraine in strongest possible position for any talks".

"There can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine," he adds.

Healey also says there will be new announcements on supporting Ukraine through Nato, with billions in new firepower for Ukrainian fighters on the front line.

"We want to see durable peace and no return to conflict and aggression," he says. "Let's not forget Russia remains a threat well beyond Ukraine."

We in Europe have to hold our nerve. The Ukrainians may have suffered heavy losses of people and territory but when the invasion began it looked as though Russia would overrun the entire country within days if not hours and that didn't happen. There's still hope.

What is the reaction in America to this latest heavy-handed
manoeuvre. Has anyone seen any comments. ?

Zelensky is a true patriot. He cares deeply about his country and people shouldn't forget he was an actor and comedian with no military or political exprience before he was voted in power. In this respect only he is similar to Trump.

Unlike Trump he always seem calm and gracious, though I am sure he must have had his moments but unlike Trump he is not on screen every moment of the day.

Putin invaded Ukraine because he felt Europe and NATO were weak following Brexit. We proved him wrong, and despite his manipulation of Trump and his attempts to manipulate UK politcs too, we should remain strong and united against this tyranny.

Trump is no patriot, his scorn and disdain for the American people is well recorded and he seems to admire Putin and sees an opportunity for himself to make money by aligning with Russia even indirectly.

Yes the situation is serious but I don't think is escalating- some sort of deal will be struck eventually but I fear it has been a high price to pay for the Ukrainian people.

Europe will survive despite Trump or Putin- our democracies and cultures and even economies are much older that the US and we still have far more in common with our continental families that our stateside ones.

And again, we go back to 1930s

'Now they want to find peace in Ukraine, just as peace was found for Czechoslovakia in Munich in 1938.
Back then, after a bite of caviar, they said: "Let's sacrifice Sudetenland, then Hitler will be satisfied." “

Today they say, slurping Coke: "Let's shrink Ukraine, then peace will enter the house."

While they talk about "final solutions" in warm rooms, Ukraine lies in the rubble:

The above written by a friend from Berlin- whose family lost their home and land at the time, and had to move to East Germany, with nothing.

NotSpaghetti

GrannyGravy13 I'm sure he IS panicking.

Not according to his press release.

GrannyGravy13 I'm sure he IS panicking.

I feel unbelievably cross that Trump is cutting things out of the discussion already... and doing so before he's spoken to Zelenskyy.
Anyone following this will be anxious about the "built in humiliation" in his pronouncements.

And Putin must be feeling pretty smug.
😡

Sorry my post should read

As the Ukrainian President isn’t panicking I see no need for hyperbole at this moment in time

(Still on painkillers = brain fog)

Of course we should choose Europe.. How does Trump even think it is right to leave Zelensky out of negotiations.. Unity in Europe is the only way forward when dealing with Trump and Putin

Ladyleftfieldlover

My immediate reaction from reading today’s news is that we must choose Europe. We are part of Europe even if not in the EU anymore. trump is abandoning Europe. There are difficult days ahead.

I strongly agree.

This is just the beginning of negotiations, hopefully both Europe and Ukraine will be represented around the table in Saudi next week.

President Zelenskyy has said this is an interesting first step

As the Ukrainian president is panicking I see no need for hyperbole at this moment in time.

My immediate reaction from reading today’s news is that we must choose Europe. We are part of Europe even if not in the EU anymore. trump is abandoning Europe. There are difficult days ahead.