International Press Review dated 24 March - 4 April 2025
- Anton Kuchuhidze
- Apr 4
- 5 min read
Analysis of the international media shows that international policy on the war in Ukraine remains complex and multifaceted. Most of the media mainly raised the following issues: peace negotiations, support for Ukraine by international partners, security in Europe and the need to revise geopolitical approaches.
In an article by The Washington Post, President Donald Trump expressed his anger at the stalling of peace talks by russian president putin. In particular, Trump was angry when putin demanded the removal of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the establishment of an interim government in Ukraine as a condition for peace. Trump said that if he could not reach a deal with russia, he would impose severe sanctions, including heavy tariffs on russian oil sales.
According to the analysis of the situation, russia is currently in an economically and militarily weak position, which gives Trump a great leverage. The loss of soldiers and equipment, including tanks and artillery, is taking a heavy toll on russian resources. The economic situation in russia is also critical, with rising inflation, unemployment and budget deficits. The only thing that keeps the economy going is the revenues from oil and gas exports.
In general, President Trump believes that putin has no chance of winning, as russia is economically and militarily weakened, and is ready to use all his resources to force the kremlin to stop its aggression against Ukraine.
In another article from The Wall Street Journal, the authors analyse the difficulties the US is facing in negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine, especially after the recent talks between russia and Ukraine over the Black Sea. Initially, the US hoped for a quick agreement, as there had been preliminary talks between the parties. However, at the end of these talks, russia put forward demands that cannot be met without the participation of other countries.
The US acknowledges that the talks have not made significant progress, and Trump is likely to face difficulties in finding ways to end the conflict quickly. Russia continues to demand serious concessions, making it difficult to reach a peace agreement. At the same time, statements about progress in the talks between moscow and Kyiv are not unambiguous and create additional uncertainty.
For its part, Ukraine will hold in-depth talks with several foreign countries on the participation of their forces in a contingent to ensure Ukraine's security, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday. At a press conference with the German Foreign Minister, the Ukrainian leader said that he expects "more concrete" answers from Kyiv's allies regarding their readiness to participate in such a contingent. This was reported by Reuters.
An interesting article was published in Foreign Policy, where the author suggests that Europe needs a complete strategic reset to revise its current perceptions of the world order and recognise that the time has come for hard geopolitical decisions, including pragmatism in relations with russia. The author emphasises that European leaders have forgotten the basic rule of geopolitics: you should always have a plan for the worst case scenario, not rely on the best case. This opinion was expressed to the author by Henry Kissinger during a personal conversation in October 2022.
International politics regarding the war in Ukraine remains complicated, in particular due to the protracted negotiations and russia's demands. The key issue is finding an effective way to end the war, which requires a comprehensive approach and flexibility from all parties involved.
Washington had reason to hope for a faster Black Sea deal between Russia and Ukraine. The two sides, after all, had held extensive discussions on the topic in the first year of the war. But the U.S. and Russia issued sharply different statements at the end of the talks this week, with Moscow making demands for sanctions relief that Washington alone can’t satisfy.
A promised cease-fire on energy infrastructure, meanwhile, has shown little evidence of taking hold in the war. Russia and Ukraine have continued striking each others’ territory daily, while accusing each other of violating the truce.
President Donald Trump said Sunday he was “angry” at Russian President Vladimir Putin and added that the White House would consider more tariffs on Russian oil if he believed Putin was stalling on a peace agreement with Ukraine.
Trump said he would consider putting secondary tariffs on Russian oil — or penalties on other countries that buy oil from Russia — if he and Putin couldn’t come to terms “on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine” and “if I think it was Russia’s fault.”
Trump is right. Putin is dragging his feet and does not seem to realize that he is in no position to make demands. Russia is incredibly weak, both economically and militarily, which means that in these negotiations, Trump holds all the cards.
Putin has gravely miscalculated. If Trump decides the Russian leader is the obstacle to peace and brings down the hammer with economic sanctions and increased military support for Kyiv, Russia will be in a world of hurt. Because the reality is that Putin is economically and militarily weak and has no path to victory. He doesn’t hold the cards, Trump does. And he is getting ready to play them.
When European leaders “bravely” decided to stand up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they also promised their people, more implicitly than explicitly: “Please don’t worry. You won’t have to make personal sacrifices. If necessary, we will borrow from future generations. We won’t cut your benefits. We won’t raise your taxes.” Just as importantly, the Europeans felt courageous because they assumed that under no circumstances would the United States ever abandon Europe. It was an assumption that showed how naive Europe’s leaders had become. They had forgotten a cardinal rule of geopolitics: Never plan against best-case scenarios; always plan against worst-case scenarios. To be fair, the person who highlighted this geopolitical naivete to me was Henry Kissinger, in a one-on-one conversation I had with him in October 2022.
As the talks drag on, Russia seeks to convince Mr Trump to ignore Ukrainian and European concerns and look to a grand bargain. Ukraine, in turn, wants to prove that Russia is negotiating in bad faith, in the hope that Mr Trump might turn against the Kremlin. In an interview with Newsmax TV on March 25th, Mr Trump conceded that Mr Putin may be stalling but seemed unperturbed. “It could be they’re dragging their feet. I’ve done it over the years, you know.” He was confident, though, that both Russia and Ukraine “would like to see it end”.
Ukraine will hold in-depth talks on Friday with a small group of foreign countries about contributing forces to a contingent that would act as a security guarantee for Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian leader told a news conference with Germany's foreign minister that he was awaiting "more concrete" answers from Kyiv's allies on their readiness to participate in such a force, an initiative Russia strongly opposes.
NATO allies have pledged more than 20 billion euros ($21.65 billion) in military support for Ukraine in the first three months of the year, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday.
Foreign ministers from the alliance meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to discuss further support for Ukraine against Russia's three-year-old invasion.
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